RookElkhunter.... your research has been flawed. A pair of any brand that is 12x25 is just about as pee poor as you can get for low light viewing. This doesn' t necessarily mean at dark or daylight either. Get in the deep shadows and you won' t see a thing. Really, the best thing you could do and get.... for what you say you' ll be doing( thick and mostly tight quarters) is get something in the 7 or 8 X 40- or 42. Optics are the one true thing in life where you get what you pay for. You can walk in a store with nice florescent lights and look at the other end of the building and all that,.... but it' s not a true guide of how they' ll function in the woods. In the store lighting you will NOT truly see the difference between a pair of Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss and many of the cheaper brands. But if you can step outside at dusk or dawn and look into a brushy thicket or try to read a road sign in the dark..... you' ll see ......" You get what you pay for" . I cold go into all the whys and whereofs that cause this but it would take a lot of reading. First off, all the top binos have superior glass and coatings. Just because it says " coated lenses" doesn' t mean XYZ brand is worth a crap. The ability to see in poor light is directly related to a couple things.... the GLASS itself and most important maybe... the relationship of objective diameter to power. Divide objective diameter by power and get a factor. Example: 7 x 42. Dived 42 by 7 and get a factor of 6. Because of the make up of the human eye the best factor is at or near 7. The lower the factor the less light, less viewing and more eye strain. Your proposed 12 x 25s it' s a factor of 2. I don' t know I' ve ever seen one that low. It' s in fact a piece of crap at any price. You' re better off buying some new socks. For all day, low light, little eye strain... you can' t beat a pair of 7 x 50s. BUT, we must consider size to. I found a pair of 7 x 42s is a good compromise. Factor of 6, light weight, low profile, first quality glass. Never have to buy another pair of binos. I have Swarovskis but would feel the same with Leica or Zeiss. Below that there are 3 or 4 more economical binos($400-600) that don' t loose so much to be considered crap. Below them is crap.

P.S. Most humans cannot hold a pair of 12 power anything still enough to gain benefit over a pair of 10 power. Half the world probably can' t hold a pair of 10 power still enough for really good viewing.