Zeiss Terra ED Pocket 8×25 Binoculars: Our Review

At A Glance

PROS:

• Bright, sharp image
• Excellent close focus
• Large, comfortable eyecups for ease of use

CONS:

• Not quite as sharp as premium binoculars in this review
• Double-hinge design can require frequent readjustments

STATS:

• Price: $399 MSRP at press time. Prices often fluctuate, so check with retailers
• Close focus: 6.2 feet (190 cm). In tests, we could focus these binoculars down to about 4.3 feet (1321 cm)
• Field of view: 6.8° (357 feet at 1,000 yards). More about field of view 
• Weight: 11.0 oz (313 g)—that’s about 0.4 oz (11 g) heavier than the average for pocket binoculars in our review
• Eye relief: 16 mm

Viewing Experience: These bins provided a very good viewing experience, with a true color image that was almost as bright and crisp as the top picks in this round. They were perfect for quickly picking out blackbirds perched on reeds across a small wetland, and for examining the individual feathers on Turkey Vultures circling 100 feet up. The focus wheel itself was pretty smooth, though did not feel as finely tuned as the top models. It took three swipes of the index finger to roll through the range of the focus wheel, allowing quick adjustment from close to distant focus.

The diopter adjustment, which allows the righthand lenses to adjust individually, is placed centrally, on the far end of the bridge and without a center mark, making for a bit of a learning curve when dialing in the difference between your eyes. Out of the box, one tester had to spend several minutes adjusting before achieving optimal crispness with a kingfisher perched 100 yards away. The close focus is excellent. These would be great for viewing bees, moths, dragonflies, and beetles amongst the flowers at your feet.

Feel and Build: These bins are housed in a hard black armoring, with comforable, rounded eyecups. The ocular lenses are relatively large for the pocket-sized category, making them easy to hold up to your eyes and quickly get a good view. Overall they were comfortable to hold and to look through for extended periods. The eyecups lock into position with a slightly loose and clunky feel.

The double-hinged design allows these to fold up very small, but comes with the usual fussiness related to adjusting the barrels independently (and keeping them there). Despite their compactness when folded down, when in use these bins have a chunkier feel than some of the smallest pairs. People with larger hands may find these easier to hold onto, while people looking for the tiniest or most compact binoculars may need to look elsewhere.

This article is one in a series of mini-reviews. To see how these binoculars compare to others we’ve tested, see our full review of pocket binoculars.