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Leupold Cascade Porro vs Zen Ray ED (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter ScoutMan
- Start date
FrankD
Well-known member
Scoutman,
There is a long answer to this and a short one. If pressed for the short one I would say that the Zen Ray Zen ED's image quality is overall "better" than the Leupold Cascade porro. Handling is a toss up depending on which type of design you like.
The long answer is that each has its own set of strong points and weak points. The Zen ED is:
- Brighter
- a tad sharper
- has slightly less CA in the image
- has a wider field of view
The Leupold Cascade porro has:
- significantly better depth of field
- slightly better edge performance
- a true 3D effect provided only by porros
Personally I love the handling of the Cascade porros. Short of the Swaro EL 8x32 and the Meopta 8x32 I think the Cascade porro has the best handling of any bin I have put my hands on...and arguably the best porro handling out there. The subtle contour of the porro dogleg fits my hands like the proverbial glove. The focus mechanism, though a tad slower than ideal, is smooth as butter and considering the superb depth of field on this model really isn't much of an issue unless you do alot of extremely close birding.
You have to consider the price difference too in my opinion. The Zen ED is a steal at the current $360 and I would grab one while they are that price. That IFish coupon can't last forever. However, the Cascade porros are showing up under $200 now and that cannot last forever either. My guess is the Cascade porro will soon go the way of the Nikon SE and E2...a few here and there....so grab one while you can.
Hope this helps.
There is a long answer to this and a short one. If pressed for the short one I would say that the Zen Ray Zen ED's image quality is overall "better" than the Leupold Cascade porro. Handling is a toss up depending on which type of design you like.
The long answer is that each has its own set of strong points and weak points. The Zen ED is:
- Brighter
- a tad sharper
- has slightly less CA in the image
- has a wider field of view
The Leupold Cascade porro has:
- significantly better depth of field
- slightly better edge performance
- a true 3D effect provided only by porros
Personally I love the handling of the Cascade porros. Short of the Swaro EL 8x32 and the Meopta 8x32 I think the Cascade porro has the best handling of any bin I have put my hands on...and arguably the best porro handling out there. The subtle contour of the porro dogleg fits my hands like the proverbial glove. The focus mechanism, though a tad slower than ideal, is smooth as butter and considering the superb depth of field on this model really isn't much of an issue unless you do alot of extremely close birding.
You have to consider the price difference too in my opinion. The Zen ED is a steal at the current $360 and I would grab one while they are that price. That IFish coupon can't last forever. However, the Cascade porros are showing up under $200 now and that cannot last forever either. My guess is the Cascade porro will soon go the way of the Nikon SE and E2...a few here and there....so grab one while you can.
Hope this helps.
Kevin Purcell
Well-known member
The 10x seem to have gone but the 8x are still there
http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/leupold/leupold-cascades-8x42-porro-prism-binocular
The 10x were there a couple of days ago (I check the FOV there).
Thanks. Must have missed it.
It looks like Leupold has had the Cascade in competition with it's own "Mesa," which sells for almost $45.00 less. Is there any significant optical (or structural) difference between the 2 models to justify this? Maybe the eyepieces? They are both waterproof and have good ER but the Cascades have better eye cups.
This might seem a bit off the subject of Scoutman's initial query, but it may be worth throwing the the "Mesa" into the mix also.
Bob
It looks like Leupold has had the Cascade in competition with it's own "Mesa," which sells for almost $45.00 less. Is there any significant optical (or structural) difference between the 2 models to justify this? Maybe the eyepieces? They are both waterproof and have good ER but the Cascades have better eye cups.
This might seem a bit off the subject of Scoutman's initial query, but it may be worth throwing the the "Mesa" into the mix also.
Bob
Last edited:
Steve C
Well-known member
As far as I can tell the Mesa is nothing more than the Cascade with rubber eyecups and external focus. The new Rogue seems a clone of the Mesa, but with a further close focus and twist up eyecups. The Mesa and Rogue come in 10x50, not 10x42.
