Zen EDs - Just how good? (1 Viewer)

[Swedpat]

Hi!

Interesting matter this. And it seems to be an interesting brand of binoculars. When I first read the headline about Zen I at first supposed it was a shortening of the brand Zenith, which is a budget to mid-price brand here in Sweden.

Never before heard about the brand Zen actually! It has to be a quite new brand on the market?

According to what I read it's a very priceworthy binocular. I compared Vortex Viper and Razor 8x42 to my Swarovski SLC 7x42New. While the Swarovski was clearly superior to the Viper the Razor in my opinion was quite close to as good as the Swarovski. At least when it comes to sharpness. I suppose Zen ED is something like Vortex Razor?

Regards, Patric

 

[Steve C]

I suppose Zen ED is something like Vortex Razor?

Regards, Patric

Yes it is something like the Razor. I would say the resolution is a bit better in the ZEN. The image in the ZEN is apparently brighter, but that may be because it has a more neutral color bias than the Razor. I have asked Vortex what their resolution specs are for the Viper and Razor, but they aren't telling. The ZEN is rated at 3.2 arc seconds.

 

[Fireform]

Well hung AND beat the axis binocular optical dominance. Impressive bins

I see that some people consider them the total package.

 

[FrankD]

Ahh, but I said "some alphas". There have been several "alphas" in the last 8 or 9 years. I definitely think they optically outperform some of the predecessors to the current Swaro, Leica and Zeiss offerings, particularly in the areas I mentioned previously.

It takes 2 days for Zen Ray to ship something to me from on the west coast to here in eastern PA via USPS Priority Mail.

I like that.