New pocket 8x25 cl (1 Viewer)

Any reviews on this binocular and how does it compare to Leica Ultravid 8x20
Thanks Harold

There are some comments in this thread:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=260539

David

Thanks David the reason I ask is I purchased a Leica 8x20Trinovid a few year ago but I find it short on eye relief something I never new much about then.
So was wanting to get something better .As I do a fair bit of fell walking wanted something to fit my pocket.

Harold,

First opinions are divided about the merits of the new pockets. Clearly some have a better impression of it than I did. It does have better eye relief at 17mm. Probably not enough for some but it was fine with my glasses. I was personally more excited by the pre-production Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 I tried. Yes it's little bigger and the ER is only 15.1mm but the FOV and the centre sharpness of the sample I tried was much more appealing for me. Oh! and it's cheaper. I also think the Hawke Sapphire ED 8x25 is better and much cheaper than the Swaro. Others are certain to disagree.

David

I can't compare my 8x25 CL with an 8x Ultravid, but I do have a 10x25 Ultravid that I can more or less compare to. Both of course have very good build quality. What is immediately apparent when you hold them both is the extra weight of the CL. With their attendant neckstraps, the CL weighs 3oz. more than the UV. In the hand, the CL also feels a lot bulkier too. Not enough to be a negative feature, but you can tell the difference when you hold them. The CL's focus wheel is much lighter in turning effort. It has the barest hint of backlash. You have to really look for it, so it's not a bother during normal use. The UV's focus knob takes noticeably more pressure to turn, but is more "accurate" (for an immediate lack of a better term) in feel, with no hint of backlash.

Another big area where these two differ are the eyecups. The CL's are a not nicer overall. They twist up, and since they are substantially larger, give the CL a feel of a larger binocular. The UV's eyecups just pop up, and are much smaller. They work just fine.

As for the view - it's a bit difficult to compare because of the 2x difference, but in my limited time with the CL's, I seem to think that the UV's view is just a hair more sharp than the CL's. This is not to say that the CL is soft. In fact, I've been impressed by the sharpness of the CL's view. The big difference in this category is the brightness of the view. As one could reasonably expect, the CL provides a much brighter view. The difference won't matter during bright daylight use, but it does make a difference on rainy days, or during twilight hours.

I can't tell you much more at this time, as I've only had the CL's for a short period of time. I really didn't have plans to buy one, but I found an unused and mint condition 8x25 CL for under $500, so I went ahead and purchased it. I was looking for an inexpensive 30mm bino under 16oz. for hiking use, and then this one popped up. After using it for a short time, I am very happy with a 5mm smaller objective, and no longer have plans on buying a small 30mm-class roof. To be honest, if I had to choose between the CL and the UV, I would go with the CL, but only because I would prefer the 8x over the 10x. However, if Leica produced an 8x25 UV, I would prefer it over the CL, mainly because I just like the handling of the UV just a gnat's ass-hair more than the CL's (can we say "ass-hair" here?). As for the possible choice between a 20mm UV and the 25mm CL - I guess it would depend on what other binos I had at the time. The CL certainly feels like a more substantial bino that the 20mm's I've used, so if I could just have one bino overall, I would go with a CL over a 20mm UV. But if I wanted something *specifically* just for pocketability, then I would probably go with a 20mm UV (or Nikon HG L) because I am impressed by my 10x UV.

But if Leica produced an 8x25 UV with bigger eyecups and a slightly longer ER, I would dump both of mine in a heartbeat......

harold9649 said:

Thanks David the reason I ask is I purchased a Leica 8x20Trinovid a few year ago but I find it short on eye relief something I never new much about then.
So was wanting to get something better .As I do a fair bit of fell walking wanted something to fit my pocket.

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If I fell a lot while walking, I guess I'd want a pocket bin too since I wouldn't want to fall on top of my bins. :smoke:

Had to look that one up, not a Yank expression:

fell walking

Brock

typo said:

Harold,

First opinions are divided about the merits of the new pockets. Clearly some have a better impression of it than I did. It does have better eye relief at 17mm. Probably not enough for some but it was fine with my glasses. I was personally more excited by the pre-production Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 I tried. Yes it's little bigger and the ER is only 15.1mm but the FOV and the centre sharpness of the sample I tried was much more appealing for me. Oh! and it's cheaper. I also think the Hawke Sapphire ED 8x25 is better and much cheaper than the Swaro. Others are certain to disagree.

David

Click to expand...

David,

I recently purchased the Hawke Sapphire ED 8x25s based on your comments, and I have to agree with you that they are quite fantastic! Especially when price is considered...thanks for bringing these to my attention!

Greg

typo said:

I was personally more excited by the pre-production Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 I tried. Yes it's little bigger and the ER is only 15.1mm but the FOV and the centre sharpness of the sample I tried was much more appealing for me. Oh! and it's cheaper. I also think the Hawke Sapphire ED 8x25 is better and much cheaper than the Swaro. Others are certain to disagree.

David

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I had plans on buying either the new Leupold Mojave 8x30 or the new Nikon M7 8x30, but then the CL Pocket fell into my lap and cancelled those plans. But who knows -- if the reviews that are sure to come on the M7 are good, I could see possibly getting one.

I had also given some thought to the Sapphire 25mm too. I can't say if it is better or worse than a CL Pocket, but given my experience with Hawke scopes, I would be fairly confident that the Sapphire would provide more performance for the dollar/pound/euro/clams spent as compared to the CL-P. I hope to run into one of those one day, and do a SxS comparison to my CL-P.

I had a chance to use my 8x25 CL-P a bit more this morning, and am now even more impressed with it's clarity, wide sweet-spot, and overall ease of use. I am more impressed with it that I was with the CL Companion, although the one time I looked through a CL-C was only for a very short period of time inside a Cabela's. It will be interesting to see how well the CL-P stacks up against a good but small 30mm-class bino.

I did do a short SxS with the CL-P and our Bushnell 7x26 Custom Compact. Surprisingly, the Bushy weighs 1.2oz. more than the CL-P, even though it looks smaller. The CL's view is noticeably sharper, but the Bushy is noticeably brighter. The FOV seems to be about the same, but since the CL-P is 1x more, you get a larger picture of the same view. Certainly the view through the CL-P is to me a better view than the CC, but it certainly comes at a cost. The CC is the best 25mm-class bino I've seen in the ~$250 price range. I'm not so sure if the CL-P is the best 25mm-class bino I've seen in the ~$800 range.

More to come, once I've had the chance to use it a bit more.....

OK_Hunter said:

David,

I recently purchased the Hawke Sapphire ED 8x25s based on your comments, and I have to agree with you that they are quite fantastic! Especially when price is considered...thanks for bringing these to my attention!

Greg

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I'm glad you are pleased with them. It would be nice if you could post a review on them when you get a chance.

David

PhilR. said:

I did do a short SxS with the CL-P and our Bushnell 7x26 Custom Compact. Surprisingly, the Bushy weighs 1.2oz. more than the CL-P, even though it looks smaller. The CL's view is noticeably sharper, but the Bushy is noticeably brighter. The FOV seems to be about the same, but since the CL-P is 1x more, you get a larger picture of the same view. Certainly the view through the CL-P is to me a better view than the CC, but it certainly comes at a cost. The CC is the best 25mm-class bino I've seen in the ~$250 price range. I'm not so sure if the CL-P is the best 25mm-class bino I've seen in the ~$800 range.

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Phil,

I did try a Bushnell Custom before buying the Elite 7x26, at least in part because the one I tried was sharper. However even that one ranks quite low in the order of sharpness (resolution) of the binoculars I own. Unfortunately I didn't have them with me when I tried the Pockets, but, I strongly suspect they were not as sharp as my Elite and, by comparison, poor even compared to the CL 8x30 which is in turn a long way behind the ELSV.

Of course the one you bought might well be better than the two I tried. I hope you continue to enjoy them.

David

typo said:

I'm glad you are pleased with them. It would be nice if you could post a review on them when you get a chance.

David

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I will post a review over in the Hawke forum this evening when I have more time on my hands...