This stabilised mini telescope is smaller than a credit card
15.7.2026
Translation: Veronica Bielawski
Pictures: Michael Restin
The Stabi One ticks three boxes at once: it’s small, light and fully stabilised. At tenfold magnification, Kite Optics’ mini monocular is fun to use handheld or on a smartphone – when everything lines up.
On paper, the Stabi One intrigued me straight away: a tenfold-magnifying, always-in-your-pocket spyglass thingy that gets rid of shake and can dock magnetically onto your phone camera? Sold! Give it here!
So I got a test unit, packaged in sleek matt black and embossed with the silhouette of a red kite bird – the inspiration for the Belgian brand’s name, which has been manufacturing optical instruments since 1992.
Back to the packaging: it comes wrapped in thick foam padding – a stabilised pocket scope like this needs to be well protected. I pull it out with my thumb and index finger. Underneath, a carry strap is hiding as an accessory.
As small and light as promised?
«It’s smaller than your wallet and lighter than your phone,» Kite Optics writes about «the world’s first fully stabilised 10×20 observation instrument». My wallet is credit-card sized. The scope disappears behind it at five centimetres in height and seven centimetres in width. That is, if you ignore the fact that the scope is also four centimetres thick. Just picture a stack of 50 credit cards.
With its cube-like form, the Stabi One fits better into a jacket pocket than a trouser pocket. And Kite Optics is lucky I don’t own an iPhone 13 Mini: with an AAA battery, the Stabi One weighs 143 grammes, making it two grammes heavier than the iPhone Mini. Be that as it may, the Stabi One is certainly still small and lightweight, and a battery life of up to twelve hours sounds great.
This wee outdoor companion is so tiny that I get anxious about losing it every time I remove the rubber ring that unifies the lens and eyepiece cover. I could lose it. Or worse, drop the pocket scope. It’s only got a grippy rubber coating right at the front – which is where the battery sits behind an easily removable cover – and on the eyecup – which has a stepless twist-out mechanism.
It’s worth attaching the chic neck strap, which resembles a climbing rope. It keeps the Stabi One securely around my neck, and I can unclip it via the quick-release at any time. Taking the device along is no problem, but to earn its place around my neck or in my pocket, it needs to hold up on a technical level. When used at the eye, and for digiscoping with a smartphone.
Really good stabilisation
I start off by using the Stabi One directly at the eye – like a pair of binoculars, a telescope or a monocular, which sounds clunky yet accurately describes what this little device does. When I slide the switch on top to On, the wee thing springs to life, releasing the physical lock on the built-in gimbal system. With a battery inserted, it starts compensating for image shake.
I love it! The world stops wobbling about; I can focus on observing. It irons out fluctuations of up to two degrees; beyond that, it softens movement. Doesn’t sound like much? I can assure you it is! See for yourself in the video below. (The video has no sound and is under ten seconds long. Left: stabilised. Right: not stabilised.)
Of course, I can also use the Stabi One without stabilisation. It’s easier to hold steady when not attached to my phone. But without battery power, the magic is gone. A red LED signals when stabilisation is active. When it flashes, it’s time to change the battery. To stop me accidentally wasting power, the Stabi One switches off automatically after 20 minutes. What it doesn’t do for me is flip the switch to Off as well – which would lock the gimbal and stop it from rattling around inside the housing.
Compromises on the optics
I’ll get to image quality in combination with a smartphone later. First, I want to look at what the Stabi One can do on its own as an observation device.
With a 20-millimetre objective diameter and a 2-millimetre exit pupil, it’s clear I’m not holding a night-vision device. This mini scope isn’t made for use at dusk or in darkness.
The close-focus limit is 3.5 metres, and just under half a turn of the appropriately firm focus ring is enough to switch to infinity. Since everything on the Stabi One is a bit smaller, the ring has two clearly protruding ribs to give your fingers grip and orientation. It’s easy to operate.
The angular field of view is 5.15°, so I can take in a section 90 metres wide at a distance of 1,000 metres. At 25.5°, the apparent field of view is narrow, tending towards tunnel vision. As a glasses wearer, I take my glasses off every time, because the 11-millimetre eye relief otherwise only leaves me with a keyhole view. That might sound negative, but I really don’t mean it that way. I mean, we’re talking about a scope the size of a credit card! That’s not possible without some compromises.
Besides, it’s got its magic image-stabilisation switch that lets me immerse myself in the landscape and keep my subject clearly in view. When it comes to image stabilisation, the Stabi One holds its own against the Nikon 12×25 S binoculars. They’re in a similar price class to the Stabi One, though they’re ahead in terms of optics.
On the Stabi One, colours look a touch flatter, the field of view is more restricted and edge sharpness is lower. No wonder, given how tiny it is. Still, it’s fun to use, and it’s impressive what Kite Optics has coaxed out of such a small cube. The monocular is a product category all of its own – and it can do something that could be a genuine reason to buy it: multiply your smartphone camera’s focal length tenfold while also making a tripod unnecessary.
A smartphone adapter for everyone? Tricky!
With digiscoping, you dock your smartphone onto an optical telescope to take pictures. The Stabi One is designed to work with as many smartphone models as possible. It attaches to an angled bracket using a Velcro strap. At the bottom, it docks onto the back of the phone using a magnetic plate rail combo that’s fixed in place with a screw.
According to the instruction manual, the self-adhesive metal plate doesn’t stick well to silicone cases, soft-touch coatings or ceramic backs. Right off the bat, that rules out quite a few devices. So what do you do then? The instructions say – I’m not joking – to use superglue in this case. How about no?
The package includes three magnetic plates. I try to attach one of them permanently without superglue – to my iPhone, to a Pixel, to a Fairphone and finally to my Nothing Phone, whose plastic back works best. It also holds on the glass back of my old iPhone X, once I’ve cleaned the surface thoroughly before sticking it on.
But no matter which device I’m working with, adjusting the setup is tricky. Even with the magnet holding perfectly on the back of the smartphone and the docked bracket screwed on tight, the connection still has a bit of play – and there’s a four-to-five millimetre gap between the eyepiece and phone. The gap can’t be adjusted. The Stabi One sits in a recess on the rail, so I can’t move it forwards or backwards.
Even with the eyecup fully twisted out, there’s always a gap between the Stabi One and each of my phones through which light gets in. It reduces image quality; I only get usable snapshots in the shade or if I shield the lens from stray light with my hand.
I decide to test the adapter on a colleague’s iPhone 17 Pro, which not only has vastly better image quality, but also a 4.43-millimetre think camera bump. The Stabi One works much better on it: the camera bump bridges the gap and prevents light from entering at the sides. I can’t say it’s universally suitable for every smartphone. It’s also worth noting that if you want to stick the magnet onto a case rather than an unprotected smartphone, the gap will be different again.
Image quality ranging from good to unusable
I have to be careful and patient when aligning the Stabi One. Simply docking it and getting going doesn’t work for me – I keep having to readjust it. That takes time, and sometimes patience. That’s why you won’t find a picture of a grey heron here, just a landscape. The bird ran out of patience before I did. Still, it’s impressive how far I can see with the Stabi One.
Time and again, I notice everything the Stabi One could be capable of – with a top-of-the-line smartphone and, above all, with a better adapter. A better-suited smartphone alone won’t solve everything. For a few days in May, I lend the Stabi One to my binoculars-obsessed colleague with an iPhone 17 Pro. It doesn’t take long for him to cast the adapter aside and start running his own experiments.
«I completely agree with you, it needs a better adapter. I also had too much light coming in from the side,» he reports. So a thick camera bump alone doesn’t solve the problem either.
After all these shaky experiences, I look on enviously at the guy in the video below, who uses the Stabi One with the Ollin Snapshot System. With it, the scope mounts perfectly onto the camera within seconds, without any distracting light ingress.
I think it’s worth investing in accessories specifically made for your smartphone model, so you get long-term enjoyment out of this little scope. After all, at around 400 francs or euros, it’s too expensive to settle for compromises.
Manual mode is more fun
When taking photos and filming, you can expect to be better off running the camera in manual mode – if needed, via a different camera app that gives you full control. If your smartphone automatically selects the appropriate lens based on zoom level, lighting conditions and distance to the subject, chances are it might focus incorrectly.
At its core, the Stabi One is very easy to use. But it’s still a fun toy for people who want to dig deeper into it. With patience, the right gear and the right settings, you can get quite a lot out of it. The reward? Impressively stable telephoto shots. Whether you have any use for that – or would rather reach for a proper camera – is your call. I think the Stabi One really is a great gadget. And not just on paper.
In a nutshell
Great stabilisation, good optics, fiddly smartphone adapter
The Stabi One from Kite Optics is a Rubik’s cube of a device. Smaller than a credit card, it offers tenfold magnification with decent sharpness and image stabilisation. You can use it on its own as a monocular or pair it with your smartphone camera.
That said, the suitability of the included adapter depends on your model of phone. It docks via a magnet that you have to stick directly onto your smartphone or case, which doesn’t always hold perfectly. On some surfaces, you’re supposed to use superglue. And on many smartphones, the gap to the camera lens is so large that stray light becomes a problem. I’m deducting one star for that.
Pro
- Great image stabilisation
- Tiny, with 10x magnification
- 12-hour battery life
- Turns your smartphone into a super telephoto lens
Contra
- Adapter is suboptimal
Michael Restin
Senior Editor
Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.chSimple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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