New Decade, New Bins!

I don't upgrade my Binoculars or Scope very often, and tend to go several years with the same pair.
My main binoculars are Leica Duovids, which weigh a tonne, but give a nice sharp view, and have the bonus of both 8x and 12x. The 12x come in handy when seawatching or on Marinelife ferry surveys.

Insects and Reptile surveys, however, the Duovids really aren't practical as the closest focusing is about 4 metres, causing me to step back from many interesting animals. This has led to me using an old pair of Opticrons for such surveys which have a very close focus, but must be 20 years old now!

My search for an upgrade took me far and wide. I'd have preferred an 8x42 or even 10x42 with close focus, to replace both my current binoculars, but after many searches, I found myself trying a pair of Zeiss Victory 8x25 pockets.
Other compact binoculars I had tried were awful for me, a pair of Leica 8x20s I couldn't even line them up against my eyes without weird double barrel effects.

It's fair to say the Zeiss Pockets blew me away, and blew away the Opticrons that I took with me for reference. Not too small to hold, and the detail thru them is quite addictive.

Even more surprising, is they seem to hold their own against the Duovids at 8x, although I'm yet to try them over a prolonged period of birding.
I suspect, even if these don't replace my Duovids, in the future it will be a pair of Zeiss binoculars that replace them.