Zeiss Victory 8x42 T* HT Binocular

I've had my Zeiss Victory HT for about a month now and I can't express enough how impressed I am with them everytime I hold them up to my eyes. The first thing you notice about them is how clear and bright the image is when you first look through them. I have heard someone else use the analogy that when you compare them with another binocular "its like when you take the protective plastic covering off of the screen of a cell phone or tablet" and I believe that is pretty accurate. Compared with my old Nikon 8X32 Superior E (an excellent binocular and one that saw me through nearly 13 years of field work in often tough conditions)the image is just far and above clearer and brighter. I've been truly impressed with their performance in low light conditions and I have to say the image quality stays high even during twilight.

I am a wildlife biologist and often need to read color bands so high resolution and clear color transmission is very important to me and the victory HT does not disappoint at all in this regard. They have a pretty wide "sweet spot" with only a very small area at the very edge of the image that may not be in focus at all times. All in all optically they compare well with their Leica and Swarovski brethren and I think surpass them a bit in brightness and perhaps resolution.

I love the design and can easily hold and focus them with one hand. They may be a bit on the heavy end for some people who are used to a mid-size binocular but for someone like me with big hands they are just about perfect and I prefer the design a bit over the Swarovski ELs. They are well armored and the grip feels good in the hands.

So far the only flaw I have seen (aside of course from the price, which like all of the "alpha" binoculars now is very expensive) is the eye cups. They are a little loose and have slipped out of position (I have eye glasses) multiple times. Its not a huge issue but something I wouldn't have expected on otherwise so fine an instrument.

I recommend them highly to anyone who wants what is probably very close to if not the best image quality in any binocular available today.