Alexis Powell
Natural history enthusiast
Third time (and one year later) is the charm
My Zeiss 8x25 Terra situation seems now to be resolved. I received the (second) warranty replacement last week, have now had a chance to try them, and I think they are fine. The hinges are stiffer than either of the previous two units and work well, and the optics seem fine as well. The view is not as easy to acquire as my full-sized bins, which is to be expected for an 8x25, but they also seem a bit more sensitive to eye placement for minimizing aberrations than are my considerably smaller Leica 8x20 Ultravid BL. Even when perfectly aligned with my eyes, the view of this Zeiss is distinctly different in character from the Ultravid. The Zeiss has a generous sweet spot and the view is nicely contrasty, but it isn't as easy on my eyes. The Zeiss has very little curvature of field, but unfortunately it has a lot of astigmatism and CA off-axis, so it is neither sharp to the edges nor can the edges be brought into sharp focus. Consequently, for me the Ultravid has a larger sweet spot overall. If I can't get a sharp view edge to edge, I much prefer field curvature without much astigmatism to flat field with astigmatism, so I like the Ultravid better.
All in all, I think the Zeiss 8x25 Terra is superb for my purpose, which is to function as a kid's bin. For that, it is hard to beat given its lack of minimum IPD issues, good size for small hands (including easy to reach focus), 5 ft close focus limit (good for looking at insects, frogs, and other things that are nearby), reasonable exit pupil size (3 mm) and FOV (6.5 degrees, 357 ft) despite overall small size, and acceptable size eyecups for kids (and enough eye relief for glasses wearers).
Finally, I'll note that this new production unit appears (as best I can remember) to be the same design as the mk 2 unit that I received as a replacement for the somewhat different mk 1 unit that I originally purchased. However, the packaging is entirely different and much improved. Instead of coming in a large clear and white plastic case inside a generic white box, the 8x25 Terra now comes in an attractive cardboard box with magnetic closure. More importantly, instead of coming with a useless drawstring cloth pouch for storage, it now comes with a very practical (and properly fitting--not oversized like so many cases these days!) hardened clamshell with zipper closure and belt loop. The case also has a useless magnetic quick closure strap. I suppose it was put there to hold the clamshell closed while on the belt and with the bins out of the case, but all it really does is get in the way of zipping the case open and closed. It is easy to remove cleanly by snipping it off with hot (to melt the cut end so it doesn't fray) scissors. Likewise, although the supplied binocular strap is functional, I find it overly complicated with lots of little plastic bits, rings, couplers etc. Better just to remove all the end hardware (which can scratch lenses if the bin is not cased carefully) and pass the ends of the strap directly through the ends of the bin, sewing them back upon themselves for security. The strap can also be simplified and de-bulked a bit by slicing off the rubberized Zeiss logos.
All in all, I'm happy with the Zeiss 8x25 Terra and to have come to the end (for now!) of this warranty replacement saga.
--AP
My Zeiss 8x25 Terra situation seems now to be resolved. I received the (second) warranty replacement last week, have now had a chance to try them, and I think they are fine. The hinges are stiffer than either of the previous two units and work well, and the optics seem fine as well. The view is not as easy to acquire as my full-sized bins, which is to be expected for an 8x25, but they also seem a bit more sensitive to eye placement for minimizing aberrations than are my considerably smaller Leica 8x20 Ultravid BL. Even when perfectly aligned with my eyes, the view of this Zeiss is distinctly different in character from the Ultravid. The Zeiss has a generous sweet spot and the view is nicely contrasty, but it isn't as easy on my eyes. The Zeiss has very little curvature of field, but unfortunately it has a lot of astigmatism and CA off-axis, so it is neither sharp to the edges nor can the edges be brought into sharp focus. Consequently, for me the Ultravid has a larger sweet spot overall. If I can't get a sharp view edge to edge, I much prefer field curvature without much astigmatism to flat field with astigmatism, so I like the Ultravid better.
All in all, I think the Zeiss 8x25 Terra is superb for my purpose, which is to function as a kid's bin. For that, it is hard to beat given its lack of minimum IPD issues, good size for small hands (including easy to reach focus), 5 ft close focus limit (good for looking at insects, frogs, and other things that are nearby), reasonable exit pupil size (3 mm) and FOV (6.5 degrees, 357 ft) despite overall small size, and acceptable size eyecups for kids (and enough eye relief for glasses wearers).
Finally, I'll note that this new production unit appears (as best I can remember) to be the same design as the mk 2 unit that I received as a replacement for the somewhat different mk 1 unit that I originally purchased. However, the packaging is entirely different and much improved. Instead of coming in a large clear and white plastic case inside a generic white box, the 8x25 Terra now comes in an attractive cardboard box with magnetic closure. More importantly, instead of coming with a useless drawstring cloth pouch for storage, it now comes with a very practical (and properly fitting--not oversized like so many cases these days!) hardened clamshell with zipper closure and belt loop. The case also has a useless magnetic quick closure strap. I suppose it was put there to hold the clamshell closed while on the belt and with the bins out of the case, but all it really does is get in the way of zipping the case open and closed. It is easy to remove cleanly by snipping it off with hot (to melt the cut end so it doesn't fray) scissors. Likewise, although the supplied binocular strap is functional, I find it overly complicated with lots of little plastic bits, rings, couplers etc. Better just to remove all the end hardware (which can scratch lenses if the bin is not cased carefully) and pass the ends of the strap directly through the ends of the bin, sewing them back upon themselves for security. The strap can also be simplified and de-bulked a bit by slicing off the rubberized Zeiss logos.
All in all, I'm happy with the Zeiss 8x25 Terra and to have come to the end (for now!) of this warranty replacement saga.
--AP
Last edited: