Swarovski Optik EL (8x32) Binocular

I am a lover of fine optics and have bought this pair of binos because I could not find anything better. I wanted to get small binos and chose 8x32 because 20mm objective lens binos are smaller but too uncomfortable to use: With 20mm binos I find myself constatly perfecting the eye distance and the focus knobs are kind of tiny so you need a few back-and-forths to adjust focus. 32mm objective binos have all the nice amenities of large binos in a small package: decent exit pupil so eye distance is not so critical, friendly sized focus knob for fast focussing, hand size binos which are handled with hands and not with a few fingers only.

Some people may want to know about the specs which make this expensive pair of bonis better than $100 binos. Well, the specs are top of the line: very lightweight due to magnesium alloy, very wide field of view, very close focus so you can observe for example insects, absolutely sharp to the very edge of the field, very good contrast due to fully multicoating of all glass surfaces and excellent optical design. But this is expected at that price. If you spend this money I assume you have checked out the number specs already. What makes the difference to other binos at the same price level?

I have compared the 8x32 from Swarovski EL, Leica Ultravid and Zeiss Victory, hence the best of the best. Optically I found the Zeiss slightly better than the other two, but this difference was really very very small (chromatic abberation). The Leica is the smallest and that made it my initial favorite, but it turned out that it is very hard to find best focust quickly on the Leica because the focus wheel turns much easier in one direction than in the opposite direction. Handling of the Zeiss was very good, but handling was awesome with the Swarovski's. The focus just snaps in right away. Since the optics were so close to each other I decided by the handling factor, and wow I recommend you try the Swarovski.