I really wouldn't discount the Leica.
Smaller than the Zeiss, better build than the Curio.
I looked at all three, the Zeiss is the best for ergonomics, but is NOT truly pocketable.
The Curio edges the Leica on optics..... just.
But as an all round pocket option, I believe the Leica to be the best.... and it's where my money went.
I totally agree that the Leica 8x20 Ultravid is an awesome binocular, both optically and aesthetically with respect to build and design. Here's a very long and perhaps unnecessary post to explain why I chose to discount it in my previous post, despite loving and respecting that little bin probably (almost) as much as you do!
For many years, the ultra-compact and beautiful BL version of the Leica 8x20 Ultravid was my favorite tiny bin (compared directly with just about every other model then available). I carried it everywhere and I used it a lot, despite much preferring full-sized bins (8.5x42) for dedicated birding use. To be fair, I also liked the Zeiss 8x20 Victory a lot (once it was updated with dielectric prism coatings). In fact, with respect to optics, I think I like that (now discontinued) Zeiss just a tiny bit more than the Leica, but the Leica was easily my favorite overall for its better ergonomics, especially its focus operation. The relatively large (or, at least, long) focus knob of the Leica is an outstanding feature, and the positive stops in its hinges (unlike the older Leica Trinovid and Zeiss 8x20 models) means that it can be unfolded very quickly and consistently in an asymmetric way so as to position the focus knob perfectly under the index and middle fingers of the preferred hand (whether right or left). I jokingly called that manner of holding the 8x20 Ultravid the "solidarity clasp" in a thread a long time ago. Here's a link to my post in which I included a series of photos to illustrate that grip (scroll to the bottom of the long post):
"Small things are easy to hold with big hands: I can grip a gum drop, table tennis ball, golf ball, tennis ball, and softball very very securely, but I can't hold a basket ball firmly with one hand (because it is too big, or my hand is too small)." - AP This a "straw man" argument (a...
www.birdforum.net
Nevertheless, when the Zeiss 8x25 Victory arrived on the scene, I found it to be a total game changer. It is the first, and so far (in my experience) the only tiny binocular to deliver something akin to full-sized binocular views and handling. I have lots of experience with
all of the best pocket roof and reverse-porro models available from ~1985-2020 or so, as well as all of the best mid-sized 8x30 and 8x32 models in that period, and for me (as described in many of my previous posts in other threads), the Zeiss 8x25 Victory is in a category of its own with respect to optical and ergonomic performance in a small bino. Sure, it isn't made as beautifully as the Leica 8x20 Ultravid, but for me, it totally crushes that Leica as a birding tool. Yes, the Zeiss is a slightly larger bin than the Leica, but then I always carried my Leica 8x20 Ultravid BL in its dedicated Leica clamshell hard leather case. That case is a good fit to the bin, but it still makes it nearly as bulky to pack as the Zeiss if the Zeiss is packed into a thinly-padded nylon soft-case. Here is a past post of mine with some relevant photos:
How big is the Zeiss 8x25 Victory Pocket? The Zeiss 8x25 Victory Pocket is an 8x25, with the optical comfort (except in very low light) and handling qualities of an 8x32, that packs like an 8x20. See attached images (Note: images not to same scale from one image to the next) to accompany...
www.birdforum.net
It has now been a surprisingly many (6+) years that I've been using the Zeiss 8x25 Victory, and very heavily at that, on many an adventure at home and abroad. I love looking at and looking through the Leica 8x20 Ultravid, but I have never found a time that I reached for it over the Zeiss to meet my need for a tiny optic as a birding tool and I've never missed it in the field. By contrast, there
have been times that I didn't trust the Zeiss 8x25 Victory to be good enough as a birding tool to replace a really good mid-size model and then later did regret packing my Zeiss 8x32 FL (or Leica 8x32 Ultra Trinovid BA, or even more bulky Swarovski 8x32 EL) instead of my Zeiss 8x25 Victory, which would have worked perfectly well optically and been easier to manage when doing things other than dedicated birding (e.g. such as photography, butterflying, general hiking, and sightseeing). So the Zeiss 8x25 Victory has, for me, replaced both the Leica 8x20 and the Zeiss 8x32 FL for birding (These days, just three bins--the Zeiss 8x25 Victory, Swarovski 8.5x42 EL Swarovision late production pre-FP, and Pentax 6.5x21 Papilio--cover all my birding and butterflying uses). Although I sometimes play around these days with a Zeiss 8x30 SFL, all that binocular does is prove to me how good the Zeiss 8x25 Victory and Zeiss 8x32 FL are. With respect to packing space, the 8x30 SFL is definitely
much larger in practice than the Zeiss 8x25 Victory and it is only trivially smaller than the Zeiss 8x32 FL. I would never suggest it as an alternative to the Zeiss 8x25 Victory, but it could serve as a good substitute for the now discontinued 8x32 FL and is an especially good choice for glasses wearers over the Leica 8x32 Ultravids (various model variants), which are otherwise also (like the Zeiss 8x25 and Leica 8x20) stupendously good and amazingly small bins.
--AP
