New Zen Ray ZEN ED 2 Spotter in hand (1 Viewer)

Steve C said:

Yeah I will. The Theron MAG 82 got here today in fact. I have just used it for a few minutes, but it makes a first impression nearly equal to the Kowa. Triplet ED objective, same size and basic porro profile profile as the ZEN and Kowa. Different focus mechanism. This one is a single range focus with a moveable ring around the circumference of the body just at the mounting plate. Both 25-75x and 30x WA threaded eyepieces included. I'll have to find another C-clamp .

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Steve:

I looked up the Theron 82 on their website, and I do see that big ring for
focussing. I have a Nikon Fieldscope, and I do like the big ring, easy to
use and control even with gloves.

It seems the competition is well and alive in the spotting scope market.

Let us know how your comparisons turn out.

Jerry

NDhunter said:

Steve:

I looked up the Theron 82 on their website, and I do see that big ring for
focussing. I have a Nikon Fieldscope, and I do like the big ring, easy to
use and control even with gloves.

It seems the competition is well and alive in the spotting scope market.

Let us know how your comparisons turn out.

Jerry

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Sure! Anybody care to guess what I'm doing tomorrow?

Steve C said:

Yeah I will. The Theron MAG 82 got here today in fact. I have just used it for a few minutes, but it makes a first impression nearly equal to the Kowa. Triplet ED objective, same size and basic porro profile profile as the ZEN and Kowa. Different focus mechanism. This one is a single range focus with a moveable ring around the circumference of the body just at the mounting plate. Both 25-75x and 30x WA threaded eyepieces included. I'll have to find another C-clamp .

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Based on the photos at http://www.theronoptics.com/Spotting_Scopes.php this looks like a Nikon ED82 knock off. Even the case is a dead ringer for the case supplied with the ED82. If the scope has the same quality optics as the Nikon ED82 the 30X will reveal it.

So, how did the Theron 82 do against the Kowa and the Zen???? Is it a step up from the Regal F ED?

Birdforum special

We have decided to offer Birdforum member special introductory price with $200 discount. Just use coupon code "BIRDFORUM" when ordering ZEN ED2 spotting scope. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Charles

ZEN-RAY said:

We have decided to offer Birdforum member special introductory price with $200 discount. Just use coupon code "BIRDFORUM" when ordering ZEN ED2 spotting scope. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Charles

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Ouch, nice offer! I am very very tempted!

That's hard to resist. I need to sell one binoculars to free up fund for this one soon.

Its a really nice offer! 98% of the Kowa performance for $999, its fantastic.....I hope I could gather some funds, in time.
The Zen ED2 spotter, would be a great aquisition, to use with my 7x36 ED2 binos!!!

Could someone kindly please post a photo of the view-through case furnished with the Zen Ray ED spotter as I have yet to see it illustrated anywhere so far.

Many thanks in advance!

DocSarvis
Santa Monica, CA

DocSarvis said:

Could someone kindly please post a photo of the view-through case furnished with the Zen Ray ED spotter as I have yet to see it illustrated anywhere so far.

Many thanks in advance!

DocSarvis
Santa Monica, CA

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DocSarvis,

Here is a picture of the spotting scope with the view-through case on.

Best Regards

Charles

Looks very, very similar to the canvas case for the Kowa Prominar. Very nice.

Well, I see Charles beat me to this, but since I have these, I will post them.

1- The first shows the scope with SOC and eyepiece cover down. The SOC is a heavy dual layer ballistic nylon affair.

2- Covers all in place. The eye piece cover snaps on, top and bottom

3-The other side of the scope from pic 1. This one's kind of fuzzy but should show well enough,

4-Sunshade retracted showing the Kimmo/Korhann cable tie sight. You can see the objective cover held by just one of the two straps.

5-Back of scope, showing cable tie sight up.

Here'e a couple of more.

1-Sunshade extended, cable tie sight up.

2-Photo shows how the eye piece cover can be clipped out of the way. You can see the sholder strap here too. The shoulder strap is nothing fancy, just a flat non padded nylon.

The tripod mount cover is not removable, the focus cover is. You can't see the collar lock too well, but it is easy to get at if needed.
The eyepiece cover has a pouch that the folded focus cover fits into nicely. The objective cover has a dual strap affair that will securely hold the objective cover if you want. You can see the cover held in place by one of the straps in the photo in the above post.

Thanks Charles and Steve C.!!

Doc

Steve,

Check if the S.O.C. eyepiece cover can be snapped to the side, sticking out sideways using its normal snaps. I did this on the Kowa 883 and do it with the velcros of my Nikon FS 82 to give me a handy screen to partially block the vision of my idle eye while viewing. Thus there is no need to keep one eye shut and moving back to binoculars is much more natural and pleasant.

Kimmo

kabsetz said:

Steve,

Check if the S.O.C. eyepiece cover can be snapped to the side, sticking out sideways using its normal snaps. I did this on the Kowa 883 and do it with the velcros of my Nikon FS 82 to give me a handy screen to partially block the vision of my idle eye while viewing. Thus there is no need to keep one eye shut and moving back to binoculars is much more natural and pleasant.

Kimmo

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That sounds like a great idea, one I haven't thought of. I've been shielding my eye with my off hand, and like your idea much better. Thanks. I'm not meaning to be repetitive, but whoever made that case for the Zen had to be the same manufacturer that made my Kowa 884. The straps, covers, obj lens cover holder, etc, are identical. That's a good thing.

jgraider said:

Thanks. I'm not meaning to be repetitive, but whoever made that case for the Zen had to be the same manufacturer that made my Kowa 884.

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While it is certainly a Kowa design knock-off, if you check the inside objective lens flap your Kowa case you will see a label that quite clearly states MADE IN JAPAN. So I seriously doubt ZR uses the same manufacturer. Perhaps it is the pic quality, but the material/stitching appears to be a little "weak" compared to the real thing to my eyes.

kabsetz said:

Steve,

Check if the S.O.C. eyepiece cover can be snapped to the side, sticking out sideways using its normal snaps. I did this on the Kowa 883 and do it with the velcros of my Nikon FS 82 to give me a handy screen to partially block the vision of my idle eye while viewing. Thus there is no need to keep one eye shut and moving back to binoculars is much more natural and pleasant.

Kimmo

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Almost, but not quite. I can be snapped with one snap either to angling slightly away to the front or to the back. There is one snap on the top and two on the back just below the eye piece, and the snap spacing won't allow this. Neither way is really completely useful. However the focus cover is completely removable and attaches with Velcro. It would be really easy to put a spot of Velcro on either side of the SOC just below the eye piece and then use the focus cover to block light, There is just enough stickiness on the black border of the SOC below the eyepiece to hold it enough to see that it will work, that way it could easily be applied to either side and with a bit of variability in where it was able to be placed. I'm going to look further at this. I also suppose it would be easy enough to add a bit of Velcro to the eye piece cover too. One could easily enough add a snap in the right place too. I'm going to try the focus cover idea first. It actually might fit the Kowa better as the Kowa is quite a bit slimmer in the dimension at the focus area, and this one is a pretty tight fit over the focus, between the focus and eye piece.

On another note, I had to decrease the image to get the cropped photos to the size I could upload them, so that may make the case look a bit dreary, and one of the photos I should have turned the scope around, as the direction of the sunlight was pretty bad. In reality I can have no complaint for what it is. I've seen a lot of junk coverings, straps, etc of one sort or another made from the ballistic nylon and they did come apart at the stitching. This is not a hand made jewel for sure, but seems simple, sturdy, and pretty functional. I said it had a dual nylon layer earlier, but it looks like there is a middle layer of a padded type foam or micro fiber of some sort sandwiched between the outer nylon layers. You can get to what you need and it covers up what needs to be covered up. Since it basically comes with the package, it is certainly good enough to give the user a better idea of what aftermarket SOC they might like better.

Did Henry Link finally get a second unit?---

where do you buy the Zen seethrough cover? How much is it? I don't see it is listed on their website.

Does anyone know when Zen-ray will come out with the 30x WA eyepiece? I saw Vortex Razor has one for $190

http://www.eagleoptics.com/spotting...x/vortex-razor-hd-30x-spotting-scope-eyepiece

Can anyone confirm that Vortext 30x WA is compatible with ZEN ED2 body? If so, I may get the ED2 spotter with zoom eyepiece and 30x WA from Vortex.