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Message: <blockquote data-quote="denco@comcast.n" data-source="post: 1422813" data-attributes="member: 25300">OK! I ordered the Zen Ray 8x43 ED's on Friday afternoon and I got them on Monday. How is that for fast shipping? $360.00 shipped with a lifetime unlimited warranty. They arrived well packed in a quality box similar to most alpha binoculars. Upon opening them I was greeted with a quite offensive odor which since has pretty much dissipated. Let's start with the supplied accessories.     Chinese are not tall people are they? Why would they design such a nice strap that is padded and well made and that you can unsnap from your binoculars if you don't want to use it but make it so LONG and no way to shorten it. Birders like shorter straps. Well you can buy buy a nice after market strap for $10.00 but they need to SHORTEN the strap! You hear me Zen Ray. The case is like a semi-rigid affair with a seperate strap which works pretty well but doesn't leave much room for the LONG strap. I prefer a larger foam padded case like the Zeiss FL's come with. Well let's see a Bighorn case that's another $25.00. The rain covers for the eyepieces fit nice and work well but the "Always On" objective covers have to narrow of a band to secure them and they fit too loose so they will surely fall off in the field. That will be rectified with a set of Bushmaster flip open objective covers from Eagle optics for another $20.00. Problem solved. Well let's get to the binoculars themselves.     They look and are about the same size as Swarovski 8.5x42 EL's. About the same green color except with some black accents. They have some shiny knobs on them that I am sure could alert game and birds to your presence. Overall though pretty quality looking binoculars. Well balanced and fairly light for a 8x43mm with a nice feel to the armor. The twist open eyecups work well but have too much play when they reach their adjustment points. Not a alot of slop like a  Nikon Monarch but not rock solid like a Nikon LXL either. It's little things like this which make these binoculars frustrating because they are VERY close to being alpha quality. The focus is smooth but a little hard. It is a big focus knob so you can use two fingers but still just a tad tight. No worse than say my Leica &x42 BN's (which are more ratchety) but a bit tighter than my Nikon LXL's. Not too bad though. Now to the optics.     This is the high point of these binoculars! They are absolutely an alpha view binocular for 1/5 the price. AMAZING! The view is as good as any roof prism I have seen including Zeiss FL's, Leica's, Nikon LXL's you name it. I used my resolution test by reading fine print at a set distance and compared them to my Leica 7x42 BN's, Nikon 8x32 LXL's, and my Nikon 8x32 SE's. They beat the Leica's and the Nikons and were only out resolved by the porro-prism Nikon 8x32 SE's. The Nikon SE's are a little sharper but they are some of the best binoculars you can get for resolution. I compared them all outside and again they have an amazing view. They were better than the Nikon LXL and even slightly better than the Leica's. I experienced no "Black Beaning" when the IPD was properly adjusted.The Nikon SE's again were slightly sharper but their view is different than the Zen Rays with the Zen Rays having a slightly larger FOV. I spent an hour looking close to the sun looking for flare and at black objects against a bright sky comparing CA and I came away liking the view of the Zen Ray over all the other roof prisms and in some ways preferring the view of the Zen Ray over the Nikon SE. The Nikon SE is sharper but the Zen Rays control CA better with their ED glass. The Nikon SE to me is still the ultimate view that can be had but for a roof prism at their price point these are awesome binoculars. The newer ED binoculars like the Nikon ED may be better but I have not had a chance too look through them.     If Zen Ray would give you a better larger foam padded case, a shorter or at least adjustable strap, make the objective covers fit a little tighter, tighten up the tolerances on the twist out eyecups so there was no play in them and loosen up the focus just a bit they would certainly have the "Poor Man's Swarovski" . To tell you the truth I think it is 99% there already. Amazing binoculars especially for the price.Dennis</blockquote>

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