Some years ago, I did a comparison between the Minox Macroscope 8x25 and Vortex Solo 8x25 monoculars. Both were very good, but different. The Minox had the edge on clarity as you would expect (it costs twice as much).
However, I found the view not to my liking as I wear glasses. The eye relief is quite short and putting the eyepiece to glasses gives that "looking down a smarties tube" effect. OK, thats a bit exaggerated, but some of the overal image size was lost. Although what remained was very bright, clear and pleasing.
The Vortex has a much longer eye relief and as such can be put to glasses without losing any of the image size. Image quality is not quite as crisp as the Minox, but its still very good. I also preferred the shape of the Vortex to hold in the hand. I preferred the larger image as well, even though it wasnt quite as bright.
If you dont wear glasses, the Minox is superior, but you pay for it. If you do, then you need to chose your compromise. Image size vs clarity? In the end, I sold both as they didnt get much use. If I was buying again, then Vortex would get my cash.
