Thank you all for the valuable info in this thread!
I was looking for a compact 8-10 x 20-25mm pair of binoculars for e.g. (mountain) hiking and on bike camping (weight and space concerns), when my larger (and only other) binoculars (10.5x42mm Kite Birder) would be too big and heavy, but still letting me enjoy(!) bird observation. I had been going through reviews and forums, considering different options and planning some more hands-on tests, when I stumbled on a great quick offer for a pair of Victory pocket 8x25mm that I couldn't refuse, eventhough I hadn't tested these yet but only read about, including in this thread.
They arrived this week and I have to admit, based on the very limited quick testing last evenings after work indoors and in the garden, they are really impressive. A first quick comparison confirmed what I had expected and hoped: these small Zeiss won't fully replace my Kite Birder, but they will be complementary. Even a super 8x25 cannot fully replace a very good 10x40 in low light and because of the magnification difference, while the bigger binoculars can be too heavy/large for some use cases. I'm really eager to take them out in nature soon, but I'll be away for work a lot next weeks :-(
In the meantime, I'm now looking for covers for the eyepieces and objectives (fitting on the binoculars both open ànd closed) and a smaller bag (for the binoculars at their smallest, folded/closed, but with covers). I went through the whole thread looking for tips on such accessories and made some summary I might post