Steve C
Well-known member
OK, not really a review yet 
. I will however post more as I use these more. These are the 10x42 and have a 6.4* fov.
This comes in the standard black ZR looking box, but is clearly labeled Prime HD. Same green color as the ED 2 & 3. It has a softer textured rubber armor and...PRAISE THE LORD... no thumb indents, I hate those things (and I do realize that I may well be in the miniority here)! It has a different style bag from the ED's, nice sized, big enough to not have to cram on the binocular to fit it back in the bag with eyecups extended. It is about the same color green as the binocular. Made from ballistic nylon with a fold over the top flap with latch.
This focuses counterclockwise to infinity. There is 1.5 turns with plenty of room past infinity. Close focus looks like about 6 feet. The focus knob is as good as any binocular I have tried. Soft, smooth, buttery slick, and there is NO slack in this one, NONE, not even a little bit. More on focus distances later.
This is a larger diameter in barrel cross section than the previous ZEN ED variants. I can wrap my thumb and middlefinger around those, but not the Prime. Overall it will remind us of the ZRS HD, and is noticeably shorter than the ED series, but still a fairly large binocular. Larger than the prototypes I saw, but those were naked.
This is going to reignite the alpha view vs the less than alpha $$$ view all over again. I don't see where it is real possible to cram much more useful "stuff" into an image than what there is here. This is a bright binocular, brighter than the ED 3. It is very similar in color bias, so I tend to think it is due to an increase in light transmission compared to the ED 3.
ZR looks to have achieved their goal of considerably improving the edge and flattening the field when compared to the ED 3 binoculars. There is 2% pincushion here in the 10x. I was thinking I might get the "rolling ball" here, but for whatever reason I don't. The image is most similar to the Swarovski SLC-HD in terms of sharpness, brightness, contrast, and tone. However, I will have to bend some effort in the days to come to get some side by sides set up.
Brief looks tell me this is about as much better than the ED 2-3 than what I could tell as a difference between the ED 2-3 and the alphas. As I said above, the sweet spot is very much noticeably wider with the Prime vs the ED 2-3. The edge is very much improved, but not quite with the Swarovision. The improvement is mainly wit the size of the sweet spot nad edges. There is a little improvement in centerfield sharpness, but not a lot by any means.
The only downside I can see right off is the diameter of the ocular and the resultant large diameter eye cups. They are the same size as the Kruger Caldera and may be problematic for some.
Anyway, there is the first installment, more to come.
EDIT to add: I would be remiss to fail to point out that there seems to be a fairly significant improvement in overall "feel and quality" with the Prime vs the ED series.
. I will however post more as I use these more. These are the 10x42 and have a 6.4* fov.This comes in the standard black ZR looking box, but is clearly labeled Prime HD. Same green color as the ED 2 & 3. It has a softer textured rubber armor and...PRAISE THE LORD... no thumb indents, I hate those things (and I do realize that I may well be in the miniority here
)! It has a different style bag from the ED's, nice sized, big enough to not have to cram on the binocular to fit it back in the bag with eyecups extended. It is about the same color green as the binocular. Made from ballistic nylon with a fold over the top flap with latch.This focuses counterclockwise to infinity. There is 1.5 turns with plenty of room past infinity. Close focus looks like about 6 feet. The focus knob is as good as any binocular I have tried. Soft, smooth, buttery slick, and there is NO slack in this one, NONE, not even a little bit. More on focus distances later.
This is a larger diameter in barrel cross section than the previous ZEN ED variants. I can wrap my thumb and middlefinger around those, but not the Prime. Overall it will remind us of the ZRS HD, and is noticeably shorter than the ED series, but still a fairly large binocular. Larger than the prototypes I saw, but those were naked.
This is going to reignite the alpha view vs the less than alpha $$$ view all over again. I don't see where it is real possible to cram much more useful "stuff" into an image than what there is here. This is a bright binocular, brighter than the ED 3. It is very similar in color bias, so I tend to think it is due to an increase in light transmission compared to the ED 3.
ZR looks to have achieved their goal of considerably improving the edge and flattening the field when compared to the ED 3 binoculars. There is 2% pincushion here in the 10x. I was thinking I might get the "rolling ball" here, but for whatever reason I don't. The image is most similar to the Swarovski SLC-HD in terms of sharpness, brightness, contrast, and tone. However, I will have to bend some effort in the days to come to get some side by sides set up.
Brief looks tell me this is about as much better than the ED 2-3 than what I could tell as a difference between the ED 2-3 and the alphas. As I said above, the sweet spot is very much noticeably wider with the Prime vs the ED 2-3. The edge is very much improved, but not quite with the Swarovision. The improvement is mainly wit the size of the sweet spot nad edges. There is a little improvement in centerfield sharpness, but not a lot by any means.
The only downside I can see right off is the diameter of the ocular and the resultant large diameter eye cups. They are the same size as the Kruger Caldera and may be problematic for some.
Anyway, there is the first installment, more to come.
EDIT to add: I would be remiss to fail to point out that there seems to be a fairly significant improvement in overall "feel and quality" with the Prime vs the ED series.
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