Zen Ray ZRS HD (1 Viewer)

[Steve C]

Tero,

Your are right in the sense that after awhile, even in store bound comparisons, that you develop an insight that tells you whether this binocular is worth further investigation or not. Sometimes the relationship pans out over time, sometimes not.

 

[FrankD]

But for others it's a big issue and calling it "edge to edge sharp" seem to be setting some people up for a fall.

Kevin,

Good point and I think it all has to do with a person's frame of reference. I don't claim to have a huge amount of experience with the vast amount of optics out there (thinking beyond just binos here). Judging by some comments Henry has made at times I have a feeling that there are certain astronomical telescopes that put any image a binocular may provide to shame.

With that thought in mind the best "edge to edge" sharpness I have seen in my limited experience was in the Pentax 65 mm scope when it was coupled with the XW 20 mm eyepiece. Of course the image wasn't totally sharp from edge to edge but I would confidently rate it at over 90% and probably closer to 95% or better. Color fringing was noticeable in the outer 1/3rd of the image but other aberrations or distortions were not. I have not found a binocular (SE, LX, EL or SLC) that performed at this level though those four bins are probably the best of the more "common" bins that most individuals have access to.

 

[Redeye171]

Would someone please provide the physical dimensions of the ZRS and the ZEN ED.

Thanks in advance.......red

 

[Steve C]

Here ya are red. A little google goes a long way.

http://www.zen-ray.com/comparison.shtml

 

[Redeye171]

Thanks Steve........BUT..........I should have made myself a little clearer. I meant to ask for the physical size of the ZRS and the ZEN ED..........red

Nice chart though

 

[Steve C]

Welllllllll.....

OK
ZEN ED with eye cups down is 6.5" long, 7.0" extended
ZRS HD with eye cups down is 5.7 long 6.2 extended
ZEN ED @ 65mm IPD .............4.8 wide
ZRS HD @ 65mm IPD..............4.8
ZEN ED................................28.0 oz (I think)
ZRS HD ...............................26.5

Maybe this works||

 

[FrankD]

Now that is what I call service.

 

[Redeye171]

Good man that Steve..........tnx.........red

 

[johnnymg]

Thanks for the detailed comments re these Zen-ray binos.

I ordered the 10x42 ZRS bino and tripod adapter this morning. I'll post my impressions when I get it.

thanks again
JohnG

 

[Steve C]

The Vipers used are at Vortex for a check up. They should be back in a few days. I'll reexamine the relationship of the ZEN ED, Viper, and ZRS 1042's when I get them back.

 

[Backyard Birder]

After reading all of your impressions of the ZRS I am not surprised. Everybody sees things a little differently and no matter how we try to do an objective review it's almost impossible given the differences. One thing I am seeing in all of the reviews so far is that the ZRS seem to be a pretty good binocular, especially given the price.

I've yet to do any extended viewing through my pair but what I've seen so far seems to indicate that they are better than the Diamondbacks, at least to my eyes. I should get some extended use over the coming weekend and will post my thoughts after that.

It's been a busy week but I was able to get some time to further compare the ZRS to the Diamondbacks. Most of the use was in and around our yard during the Great Backyard Bird Count. I used them in the morning, just after sunrise, midday, and in the final minutes of daylight in the late afternoon.

My general impression is that the ZRS is a bit brighter and sharper than the Diamondback. My wife confirmed that as well. The difference was especially noticeable at dusk when we get a bunch of "last minute" cardinals at the feeders. They hop around on the ground and dart in and out of some azalea bushes that are right behind the feeders. I was able to see them better with the ZRS. The field of view is a bit less but I didn't find it to be a big issue at all. As far as color cast, I didn't notice anything when comparing them to the Diamondbacks. Maybe I wasn't looking for the right thing but nothing obvious stood out.

As far as design and ease of use, the ZRS are fine. The focus is quick enough and the depth of focus is nice. Once it's dialed in you can look at quite a bit without having to re-focus. I like the indents on the bottom. They fit my thumbs and make it easier to hold the binoculars.

Overall, I'm very happy with the ZRS. The view through them is very good and the price is very competitive. My limited dealings with Zen-Ray have been positive with quick response to questions. I'm definitely keeping them and I am looking forward to using them for quite a while.

 

[FrankD]

Very nice write-up. I used the ZRS for some of the GBBC as well...along with the Zen EDs. Both bins performed admirably for the circumstances I put them into.

 

[Redeye171]

The Vipers used are at Vortex for a check up. They should be back in a few days. I'll reexamine the relationship of the ZEN ED, Viper, and ZRS 1042's when I get them back.

Steve,

did you get the vipers back yet? I wonder how the zrs compares to the new viper 8 x 32 or the viper 6 x 32.

 

[Steve C]

Redeye,

I got the Vipers back, and they are going back again. The focus now requires about 90% of the wheel travel to go from close focus to 100 feet.

By the time you get out past 100 yards or so, there is barely 30* (of 540* total) of wheel tavel left. It will barely focus on the ridgeline five miles away, forget stars.

 

[Kevin Purcell]

Redeye,

I got the Vipers back, and they are going back again. The focus now requires about 90% of the wheel travel to go from close focus to 100 feet.

By the time you get out past 100 yards or so, there is barely 30* (of 540* total) of wheel tavel left. It will barely focus on the ridgeline five miles away, forget stars.

Bummer. Did you get the same bins back or a replacement pair?

 

[FrankD]

I agree. That is a bit of a disappointment. They are usually excellent with checking the exchanges/repairs that they do....at least they were when I sent the Razors back for repairs a couple years ago.

 

[Steve C]

Bummer. Did you get the same bins back or a replacement pair?

Yes I agree. It was the same pair they repaired. That is also not what I have come to expect from Vortex.

But since Kimmo's request for a little more detail on focus particulars, I wonder if that pair was always a little like that and there was never quite enough focus travel in the outer limits of 10x usability and if that had something to do with the detail at distance difference I was seeing with the 8x Promaster and this Viper, although there was always a bit of wheel left at Jupiter distance. This is not normal.

 

[FrankD]

Hmm, this sounds similar to something I noticed with my second pair of Vortex Diamondbacks. I had no problem, in general, with the focus but did notice that the binocular's focusing knob did not really move but a fraction past infinity. I always thought I was going to run out of room before the image came into focus but never did. Now I wonder if this is something unique to certain units, quality control?, or if it was unique to certain designs.

 

[Kevin Purcell]

Hmm, this sounds similar to something I noticed with my second pair of Vortex Diamondbacks. I had no problem, in general, with the focus but did notice that the binocular's focusing knob did not really move but a fraction past infinity. I always thought I was going to run out of room before the image came into focus but never did. Now I wonder if this is something unique to certain units, quality control?, or if it was unique to certain designs.

Overrun or underrun is all part of the optical design. You never design a bin to run just to infinity at the stop (one hopes ) as there are too many people who need vision correction but who don't want to wear glasses with bins.

My DBacks have overrun (and underrun) so it might be an issue with that particular bin.

Witness Steve C's recently repaired Viper that was returned with a similar sort of issue (except it didn't make it to infinity!). Probably an assembly issue.

 

[Steve C]

After a discussion with the Vortex technician who worked on my Viper, it went back today. It would get into infinity focus (but barely), but there was so little wheel travel left that any sort of precise focus at long distance just wasn't there. I did not have that problem before it was sent in. So I think it's just an assembly issue.

What I did was to actually request they tweak the focus for more wheel travel at distance at the gladly sacrificed expense of loosing some close focus distance. If they needed to do that to correct the problem. At any rate they will call when they are working on it to see what the deal is.

If I need to watch butterflies, I use the Swift 7x36 which will both focus close enough for them, and also has a fast enough focus rate in close to work for the purpose.

I have only focused the Viper in close as a matter of checking the close focus. So I told the technician that if the close focus goes from 5 feet to 10 feet, fine.

I'm starting to like the focus of the ZEN style open bridge binoculars a lot. They really are no slower in close than anything else and they have the resolution to take advantage of the more precise focus offered at distance by the slower wheel rate.