Zen Ray ZRS HD (1 Viewer)

[falcondude]

There is discount coupon for ZRS. I almost overlooked. With that, it is even more attractive for under $200. Well, who doesn't need a backup pair for his backup?

 

[Steve C]

[QUOTE AH!! Steve. The eternal question. As a percentage, what value would you assign to ergonomics? What other values would you assign to other features to get to 100%?

First, the selection range is determined by price, within that group, I guess the balance is 60% optics and 40% ergonomics. It is not definite. A clear optic favorite or a clear ergonomic favorite can swing it 80-20. The usual ergonomics factor is size, especially if I am looking for something I'm going to pack all day, or if it's something that spends a lot of time in the vehicle.

 

[falcondude]

I always put the optical quality as the most important item. When things are equal or no much difference, I will then compare other features, ergo for one.

 

[Kevin Purcell]

I always put the optical quality as the most important item. When things are equal or no much difference, I will then compare other features, ergo for one.

Are you sure about that?

Not price? Always a consideration otherwise I would have a closet full of alphas

I'm big on optical quality but ER is usually my first screen (even without considering the price). If I don't have a good chance of seeing the view with my eyeglasses on then it doesn't matter to me how good the view is.

Exit pupil is another screening requirement which means I've mostly given up on compacts except the very good alpha ones (that even with a small exit pupil doesn't seem to be as fiddely ... go figure )

Like all things binocular related selection is a very complicated set of compromises that can vary depending on the particular set of compromises and the task I envisage using the bins for.

 

[falcondude]

Are you sure about that?

Not price? Always a consideration otherwise I would have a closet full of alphas

You got me. I need to add that the optical quality within the context of a certain price point. When I order my ZEN ED, I was prepared to see some slight optical flaw comparing to Swaro EL, especialy after factoring in the 5x price difference. So far, I found none, to my surprise.

 

[FrankD]

You got me. I need to add that the optical quality within the context of a certain price point. When I order my ZEN ED, I was prepared to see some slight optical flaw comparing to Swaro EL, especialy after factoring in the 5x price difference. So far, I found none, to my surprise.

I have to admit much the same. The longer I have them the more often I find myself grabbing them when I went to really look for fine detail. Their ergonomics are very good in my opinion but not perfect. A shorter overall binocular would be more to my liking but I wouldn't want to give up any of the other wonderful optical or physical characteristics in exchange for it.

Like everyone else, I want it all...and at a good price too. It seems the Zen Ray EDs have pretty much accomplished that.

 

[Backyard Birder]

Well, based on this thread, I ordered a pair of the ZRS HD and should have them late next week. If they are as good as advertised I think I'll be very happy. I should have them late next week and will post my impressions once I've had a chance to use them. I'm interested to see how much of a difference there is between them and our current pair of Vortex Diamondbacks.

 

[FrankD]

I look forward to hearing your impressions. I hope to have my hands around a pair by early next week as well.

 

[Kevin Purcell]

I have a pair in hand too. They arrived today. But it was raining so apart from looking at the cooker I haven't actually used them.

They do seem very compact for a full size bin after using the (longer) Chinese EDs some much recently.

More as I try them out.

 

[lulubelle]

Steve,
What did you think of the ER on the 10x ZRS? (I can't remember if you are the who wears glasses or not!)

 

[Kevin Purcell]

Some initial internal testing.

Looking at my white cooker with steel kettle on top illuminated by eastern bluish sky with clouds in early afternoon (a cool white light) at about 10m.

Using my non-ED roof prism bins for comparison.

Brightness

1. Zeiss Victory 8x40
2. Bushnell Legend 8x42
3. Pentax DCF SP 8x32
4. Pentax DCF WP 8x32
5. Pentax DCF HS 8x36
6. Zen Ray ZRS 8x42
7. Vortex Diamondback 8x42

The bigget brightness drop is from the Victory to the Legend. The others are rather closer together.

Sharpness: viewing small (almost at the level of legibility) type on a calendar. Some can just about read it and others push it to not quite readable. So this is at the very fine detail. And may be dependent. But the other seemed reproducible (with bins perhaps swapping places with the bin above or below them).

1. Zeiss Victory 8x40
2. Bushnell Legend 8x42
3. Pentax DCF HS 8x36
4. Pentax DCF WP 8x32
5. Pentax DCF SP 8x32
6. Vortex Diamondback 8x42
7. Zen Ray ZRS 8x42

There is a bit of a spread here but the bins are tightly grouped overall i.e. there are no poor bins here. I suspect without ABing you wouldn't notice the difference most of the time though I suspect if you used a bin at the top and a bin at the bottom you'd probably mention it.

The color bias these bins show to me, a red/green (i.e. my green receptor is moved towards the red) colorblind are interesting.

Zeiss Victory 8x40 - neutral
Bushnell Legend 8x42 - neutral
Pentax DCF HS 8x36 - reddish side of neutral (warmer)
Pentax DCF SP 8x32 - neutral
Pentax DCF WP 8x32 - bluish white
Zen Ray ZRS 8x42 - greenish (or greenish-yellow)
Vortex Diamondback 8x42 - blue

The Zen Ray ZRF 8x42 is interesting as it's color bias is not one I've seen before sort of a greenish (or greenish-yellow) bias. It looks different to the other bins. Though I think I'd get used to it and I prefer it to the rather cold bluish biases from the older AR coatings.

I see the full AFOV in the bins with a small FOV (6.4 or 6.5 degree FOV).

Pentax DCF HS 8x36 - 6.5 degrees
Bushnell Legend 8x42 - 6.4 degrees

I can just about see the full FOV

Zen Ray ZRS 8x42 - 7.0 degrees

But the following I see some but not all of the AFOV in these bins that have > 7 degree FOV.

Zeiss Victory 8x40 - 8ish degrees
Vortex Diamondback 8x42 - 8ish degrees

Pentax DCF SP 8x32 - 7.5 degrees
Pentax DCF WP 8x32 - 7.5 degrees

So I guess I understand why I'm not a big fan of wide FOV bins (as I don't actually see it most of the time!) and most of the bins with > 7 degree FOV don't seem to have quite enough ER. But it seems large enough FOV in real life.

EDIT: i didn't include the ZR ED 8x43 bins in this test (or any of the other Chinese ED or alphas: not quite fair) but the ZR ED would be second in brightness to the Zeiss Victory; first in sharpness test; neutral white in color bias; and I can almost-but-not-quite see the whole FOV (similar to the Zeiss).

 

[FrankD]

4. Pentax DCF WP 8x32
5. Pentax DCF HS 8x36
6. Zen Ray ZRS 8x42
7. Vortex Diamondback 8x42

Now that really surprised me. Though I was quite fond of the 8x36 DCF HS I did not think that brightness was one of its strong point.....not to mention the smaller aperture of the WP 32 versus the full sized 42 Diamondback and ZRS.

Interesting.

 

[Kevin Purcell]

Now that really surprised me. Though I was quite fond of the 8x36 DCF HS I did not think that brightness was one of its strong point.....not to mention the smaller aperture of the WP 32 versus the full sized 42 Diamondback and ZRS.

Interesting.

The aperture makes no difference as the brightness I measured in daylight (the measuring area I'm in has windows on two sides a couple of feet away with sun coming in one window). My eye's pupil is smaller than the exit pupil of both bins. So it's only the bin's transmission that makes a difference to perceived brightness in this case.

I never considered the HS a particularly bright bin either but there you go. The differences aren't huge but pretty clear bin to bin except perhaps the ZRS/Diamondback ... they're pretty close and I wonder how the color bias plays on perceived brightness (blue vs greenish/yellow).

Oh and the numbers on the second list are messed up. I'll fix that.

Line up a bunch of bins and try it and you get a result. It may not be the one you thought you might get

Then post it!

 

[NWBirder]

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 8x42

The 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.

 

[FrankD]

Very nice review NW. It comes across as though you are very favorably impressed by them, especially for the price. It was not all that long ago that the SPs were regularly selling for $600 and the Monarchs have been selling for $300 for as long as they current model has been in production. With those thoughts in mind I would then think the ZRS would be competitive with most bins in the $400-$500 range (excluding the open-bridge ED bins currently on the market).

Kevin,

I will have to do some side-by-sides later today to see if I can determine similar observations. With temperatures expected to get in the upper 50's it will be a pleasure to sit outside for awhile.

 

[NWBirder]

For $170, it is a competitive binoculars against those mid level binoculars. The spec field on the box also has two columns for ZRS ED. Does it indicate that they may have an ED version of this model.

 

[FrankD]

Does it indicate that they may have an ED version of this model.

Hmm, now that is interesting.

For whatever reason I was initially left with the impression that the ZRS were an ED design binocular....my guess is because they were often being compared to the Vortex Viper initially in terms of overall specs and physical design.

I would love to see what a ZRS ED would be like.

 

[Backyard Birder]

I just checked the priority mail tracking # that Zen Ray sent me and it appears that I might have the binoculars tomorrow or the next day. They shipped on the 5th. Pretty quick from Portland to Atlanta. I'll post a quick review as soon as possible followed up by a more detailed after this next weekend.

 

[Kevin Purcell]

I would love to see what a ZRS ED would be like.

Me too

Though I suspect they won't want more than one ED in their line up.

 

[Steve C]

Me too

Though I suspect they won't want more than one ED in their line up.

According to Charles, the focal lengths are not right to make proper use of the ED glass in the ZRS. FWIW.