Ted,
First off, welcome to BF.
The glare issue is a 7x36 phenomena, and Zen Ray has fixed that. Even without the fix it did not bother the great majority of users. The issue was never raised to any great extent by users of the 43mm ZEN ED. But keep in mind that no single binocular will please everybody.
Now as to the ED 1 vs ED2 question you posed. The ED 2 does have a little better brightness, and contrast. The difference is there, but you really need the two side by side to see what difference there is.
There are two practical field considerations. The first is that most apparent difference between the two is the ED 1 has a much slower wheel with about 2 1/2 turns of the wheel. The tension required to move the focus wheel is far less on the ED 1. The ED 2 needs about 1 1/2 turns, and the wheel tension is noticeably stiffer. It will not move from where you had it by accident, in my experience, you will have to apply a conscious effort to get it to move. Having said that, I had no problems in this regard with the ED 1.
The second practical difference is the ED 2 has both water and oil repellent coatings on the lenses. They do work in wet weather and the lenses seem a bit easier to clean in the ED 2.
Which one to get really is a matter of personal choice as regard to the type of hunting you do. I will without hesitation recommend the 7x36 to you, especailly in the closer cover assoicated with white tail deer. Any new 7x36 you will buy now will have the glare issues fixed. I have had all of the ZEN ED 1 and 2. What I kept are the 7x36 and 10x43 ED 2's.
The 7x36 will be pretty easy to hold steady and is noticeably smaller than the 43mm size, but its design prevents it from being viewed as a compact glass. I can see no difference in the amount of detail I can see at any distance between the 7x and 8x. The 8x image will look a bit bigger at the limits of the usefulness on 7-8x magnification, but the detail is to me anyway, indistinguishable. The 10x seems to me to be a more pronounced magnification difference, hence my 7x and 10x choice. The things that really motivated my 7x decision over the 8x is the 7x has an outstanding wide field of view, with a superb depth of focus. Further the precision of the focus within the depth of the field is superb. It is a binocular you will use the focus very little. You will find the optics of the ZEN ED will come far closer to the Leica than many will care to believe they do.
I am a high desert sage and juniper mule deer hunter and even for the wide open spaces, I would have no problem with the 7x as the only glass.
