It is a well known fact in my writings about binoculars, that I am not a fan of
zoom binoculars. Okay, what about the
Leica Duovid? The Leica Duovid is not a zoom binocular, not by design and not in terms of performance. Whereas all zoom binoculars are notoriously poor in terms of optics and durability, the Leica Duovid, as you would expect from any
Leica binocular, is a top notch product in every way. The Leica Duovid is a switch power binocular. The Leica Duovid requires you to actually turn each eyepiece to the correct magnification. This is a bit slower and less convenient than a zoom binocular, but it avoids all the nasty pitfalls of the zoom binocular design. In a zoom binocular, the zoom mechanism actually tries to move both eyepieces at once and no zoom binocular ever made or designed can manage this effectively or reliably. Going the
Leica Duovid route gets you a much sturdier and a much optically better system. Of course, as with all Leica binoculars, this kind of build quality does not come cheap. Hey, it's a Leica.