Zen Ray ED3 and Hawke Frontier ED 8x43(2012) (1 Viewer)

Hi All,

I know that there have been numerous posts about both Hawke Frontier ED 8x43 and Zen Ray ED3. I don't want to go over old ground - I think that the general consensus was they were pretty similar with ZR perhaps having the slight edge but has anyone compared the ZR ED3 to the 2012 Hawke Frontier ED 8x43?

I am in the UK and the 2012 Hawke has a RRP of £369. ZR ED3 is currently being offered in the US at $415 (£258) i.e quite a lot less! I know there is tax and shipping (what are these likely to be?). Also ED3 has dialectric prism coating which the Frontier does not. In fact the main difference between the new Hawke Sapphire and the Frontier ED seems to be dialectric prism coating and the Sapphire looks to have a price around £480!

The only thing is being in the UK I cannot try the ZR as they are not on sale (as far as I know) - I would just have to order it from the US. As the performance of the Hawke is similar if I tried that would it be a good indication I would get on with the ZR?

£258 with the better coating looks quite compelling! Would the ED3 compare with the Hawke Sapphire?!

One final question - what about the Vortex Talon HD? It seems very similar to the ZR ED3 and the Hawke Frontier ED - how does it compare?

Any wise words most welcome to the above queries!!

Jonathan,

I think it's widely assumed that the Zen, Hawkes, Talons and possibly others are from the same manufacturing group in China, but no one is totally sure if they are made in the same factory or indeed optically identical. There seems to be quite a lot of component sharing over there, but it's thought they are assembled to an individual company's specifications, and minor points of user description suggest they are different. Can't deny the look an view descriptions sound similar though.

Have you looked at the Hawkes? Viewpoint Optics in Dorking, or Kay Optics in Morden don't look too far from you.

Shipping costs from the US vary a great deal depending on the courier and I've heard from £50 to over £100 mentioned. Of course VAT should be collected at 20% and there is usually a tax collection fee. That depends on the courier, but from less than £10 to over £30 seems to be charged.

Not much help I'm afraid.

David

I have shipped quite a few binoculars to places such as Italy, France, Russia, Spain and Australia in recent months. If the ZR3s were shipped via a medium flat rate International Priority Mail box then shipping costs would be $45 US with some of the cost of the instrument insured. I believe delivery estimates are 6-10 days. Not sure how that VAT markup then figures into the equation.

Hi
Zen Ray now have a European outlet (Lanius Books) in Poland I think. The prices are higher than the US but this is offset by the lack of import tax payable when shipped to the UK.

Andy

soultime said:

Hi
Zen Ray now have a European outlet (Lanius Books) in Poland I think. The prices are higher than the US but this is offset by the lack of import tax payable when shipped to the UK.

Andy

Click to expand...

Yes, please visit Lanius-Book at

http://shop.lanius-books.com/pl/sklepprodukt,lista,57,zen-ray.html

typo said:

Jonathan,

I think it's widely assumed that the Zen, Hawkes, Talons and possibly others are from the same manufacturing group in China, but no one is totally sure if they are made in the same factory or indeed optically identical. There seems to be quite a lot of component sharing over there, but it's thought they are assembled to an individual company's specifications, and minor points of user description suggest they are different. Can't deny the look an view descriptions sound similar though.

Have you looked at the Hawkes? Viewpoint Optics in Dorking, or Kay Optics in Morden don't look too far from you.

Shipping costs from the US vary a great deal depending on the courier and I've heard from £50 to over £100 mentioned. Of course VAT should be collected at 20% and there is usually a tax collection fee. That depends on the courier, but from less than £10 to over £30 seems to be charged.

Not much help I'm afraid.

David

Click to expand...

Thank you everyone for your comments. It needs a bit more investigation i think. Worst case scenario might be the cost of importing and tax make it more expensive than Hawke ED 8x43. Has anyone compared the performance of Zen Ray ED3 to the latest Hawkes?

Lanius-books and Zen-Ray have teamed up to launch its site to provide excellent service for international customers outside Poland and US.

http://www.zen-ray.eu, which will direct you to the Lanius-book's english version.

Sincerely

Charles

ZEN-RAY said:

Lanius-books and Zen-Ray have teamed up to launch its site to provide excellent service for international customers outside Poland and US.

http://www.zen-ray.eu, which will direct you to the Lanius-book's english version.

Sincerely

Charles

Click to expand...

Sweet!:t: