Although I'm glad Dennis finally tried the Olympus and found them "amazing" (instead of just dismissing all compacts as PIA junk not worth looking through), I want to caution everyone that they are still compacts and have their limitations. If Dennis had an alpha 8x20 side-by-side with the Olympus he might not be so quick to dismiss the alphas. I still have the Olympus and the Leica 8x20 UV and believe me overall it's a bit of a toss-up. The Olympus have the easier view thanks to the exit pupil; the Leica still wins in terms of contrast and color. They are equally sharp (tiny edge to Olympus??--you be the judge). The Leica has a bigger sweet spot. You gotta weigh all that for yourself. But compared with a top-notch mid-size there's not much of a contest--both lose.
Which brings me to my larger point. Comparing binoculars from memory is, perhaps, not very useful. I've done it myself a couple times, but always felt like I was cheating just a bit. On some thread hereabouts, someone mentioned the unreliability of memory in the courtroom and I tend to agree. It's been proven that memory is volatile and unreliable, whether it be childhood memories, murder cases, or anything else. How good is my memory of the view through a binocular I sold two years ago? Hmm. Not too good as it turns out.
So maybe we should refrain from too many memory comparisons. If you have a big collection, go ahead and compare. If you've only got two, don't try to compare to a third you sold six months ago. I wouldn't trust myself to do it. Would you?
That said, let me say that the Olympus is a sweet little bin! A poor man's Leica, as I said two years ago. That opinion hasn't changed, mainly because I still have both and returned/sold maybe six others in the interim. But I've quit on the compact front, until something new and big comes along. Not worth the trouble.
Mark