Great pictures John!
I'm one of these people who really enjoys experimenting with various sub-25mm optics of all kinds, even if I can't afford to keep them all. One of my favorite activities is hiking and do quite a bit of Western US, "peak bagging" as they say. On most trips, I like to take an enjoyable optic with me even on those high elevation gain challenges. It's great to be able to see a trail marker, spot others on the trail and of course enjoy the wildlife and scenery when possible.
Like most that get into compact binoculars, I started this quest with the 25mm class instruments, with optics like the Nikon Trailblazer and Pentax 8x25 WP. This accelerated to increasingly pricier binoculars, eventually progressing to some of the best compact optics we've ever seen. Examples like the Victory, CL, LX, Ultravid, & a couple others, really do offer an amazing view for their size. I think the Victory might do the best job of mimicking the view from a larger optic, while I feel that the CL is the most well rounded at doing everything, when all the attributes are considered.
When it comes to the sub-25mm class, it becomes so difficult to find models that offer a reasonably good image without breaking the bank but I'm always trying to find hidden "gems." Most of us who follow this stuff know how good the 8x20 Ultravid is and I've even spent some time with the Nikon 8x20 LX and Kowa Genesis 8x22, which was expensive and heavy for its size.
My hope was that we'd have a small choice of 20-24mm optics in the $200-$350 range that would provide good... even, quite good images, while weighing a few ounces less than the 25mm class. A good example would be a theoretical 20mm version of the Zeiss 8x25 Terra but so far, no luck finding anything that resembles something like that. Some of my most recent attempts to find something acceptable, have been the Steiner Safari 8x22 Ultrasharp, Steiner 8x22 Blue Horizon and Eschenbach 8x20 Club. All three of them possessed various optical aspects that were so bad, that I couldn't keep them, even if I did like the size, weight and overall aesthetics of some of them.
Finally, I decided to go way smaller and try the modern version of the 7x15 Mikron. To make a long story short, it was immediately apparent that the Nikon punched far above its weight. The sharpness on axis is very close to best compact binoculars available. There is some blurring as the edge of FOV is approached but it's something that was easy for me to overlook when I considered the center sharpness, close to neutral color, very decent contrast, size and $275 price I paid. They are available from Japan if you don't mind the wait. I think the most surprising part of the Mikron experience, is that there were no terrible or glaring optical issues, like there are with so many in the 20-22mm, roof prism class.
Recently I picked up the 6x15 version to compare and guess which version I still have in my hand? My 7x15 is being testing by my Uncle, this weekend, and he's probably going to take it off my hands for me. The 8° FOV in the 6x really feels quite wide when compared to the 7° FOV in the 7x. It's hard to tell which one shows the most blurring near the edge but the 6x view just feels a bit more full, while providing a less limiting 2.5mm exit pupil. I feel like the 6x is very well suited to the tiny objectives and the reduction in image shake is one of the first things that I noticed, compared to the 7x. I think this is due to this little optic having so little mass at 128 grams. In any case, if my Uncle doesn't purchase the 7x15 from me and I get it back, I'll do some more specific comparisons.
Whether one were to purchase the 7x or the 6x version, I can't imagine anyone being dissatisfied with the overall image quality of this nano-sized binocular. Yes, there are other 20-22mm class, roof prisms out there that provide an even better image with less edge blurring but they're usually double or triple the street price.
My next planned mountain peak is close to 13,000ft elevation and the little 6x15 Mikron is definitely coming along for the climb!