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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NWBirder" data-source="post: 1402078" data-attributes="member: 48149">I finally got ZRS arrived last Wednesday. There was a mess-up on post office part: they left a pickup note on Monday since nobody was at home. By the time I sneaked out from work to pick up the package on Tuesday, it was on their delivery van for the second attempt already. Of course, nobody was home again.  Anyhow..I played with it for a few days. So far, I am impressed.  I only got that a chance to compare with my Pentax SP 8x43 and monarch 8x42The eyecups are quite smooth. When fully twisted-up, it snap in its position nicely. But I didn't notice there are two additional stops initially: maybe they are over-lubricated.  I twisted the eyecups up and down a few times, then I can sense some discrete stops in the middle.  I normally take my glasses off and use eyecups at full length anyway. So those extra stops are nice to have, but not important feature to me.With my glasses on, I can see full field. No need to adjust diopter at all. The locking mechanism was done very well. When I push it down (to lock) or pull it up (to unlock), I can hear a crisp snapping sound.  The lock is secure enough that I could not move it when I applied reasonable force.Sharpness is good. I stood behind dining table in the nook and looked over the microwave. Both SP and ZRS reveal well defined lines from those letters on the microwave control pannels.   Similar result were seen on the birdfeeder in my backyard. For untrained eyes like mine, I don't see much difference between SP and ZRS. But they both show crisper image than monarch.  I found SP is little brighter than ZRS. It is hard to draw that conclusion outside when it is bright. Indoor, after much back and forth, I found I was confused often by which one is brighter. Eventually, I still think SP scores on this one.  Correct me if I am wrong: I believe SP has dielectric prism coating and ZRS has silver prism coating.Field of view: ZRS 8x42 is slightly wider than SP 8x43, but not much. Both of them have excellent edge sharpness. My neighbor down the street was doing major remodeling. They have a construction fence erected at their site. Using the repeating pattern of fense offers the best tool for me to check the overall sharpness. I focused on the center of the fence from about 80 ft away and make sure it is really in the best focus. Then, roll my eyes to look at the edge of the field and compare the fuzziness. Both ZRS and SP perform much better than Monarch. The fence pattern becomes hazy from 70% of field on Monarch, but stays sharp to almost 85% for ZRS and SP. Outside that range, they are not neccessarily blurry. Just less sharp than the center. Many people do not care about this. I typically don't pay too much attention either. But a flat field does make watching more fun and less tiring. If I push a little harder, SP seems to be slightly(very slightly) better than ZRS. Its narrower field of view might help a little here.What really impresses me is ZRS's depth of field. I can simple get a clear view of everything at different distance without fiddling with focus wheel. Overall, It goes by SP>ZRS>>Monarch. With its price of $170 ( I got their coupon deal), ZRS is a very good value for its quality.</blockquote>

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