Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Zen Ray ED3 issues?

I have had a pair of ZenRay ED3's sinc eabout September. The glass is fantastic, but I have had both the rubber eye cups come loose. Not a big issue they just spin so you have to pinch them when extending the eyecups. Then while on my elk hunt, in below freezing temps, the metal sleve on the focus ring slid off. Im guessin they didn't get enough glue on them at the factory.

Just wondering if any of yall have experinced like problems?

My ED2's have been perfect. I read that the early ED3's had pain in the butt stuff like that. I think their customer service is real good from what I have read. Send them back after deer season and get them freshened up.

I had a pair that came right from the factory with focus/collimation issues, but Charles at Zen-Ray made it right and sent out another pair quickly.

I've had ZEN ED of all versions. First thing to come to grips with is that for all of their positives in optical quality, they are still a less than $500 class binocular. It is a case of their optics outpacing the construction. The construction is...as far as I can tell, on a par with anything else in that price bracket. Most will be solid enough for most uses. Some won't. Fact of life in any binocular of that price range I think. Just recently I decided to get rid of my nearly $1,200 Vortex Razor HD because the focus wheel decided it didn't need to stay put. I fixed it the first time and the second time it went to Vortex. That arrangement where the focus and diopter runs from the focus wheel is so dam flimsy looking it's funny. I'm sure there are Razor HD owners who have different experience, but any thing can have issues. My ZEN ED 2's (7x36 and 10x43) are bright and tight as the day I got them. I did however, skip the ED 3 in favor of waiting for the Prime. The ED 3 did have new eye cup and focus construction...so maybe. Zen Ray does indeed seem to be really putting forth the effort to stand behind their stuff.

Any updates on that Prime Ed glass?

Not sure. Maybe a month best case.

Im not to upset about it. I realize I didn't buy Swaros or Ziess. I was just looking to see if I need to be expecting other things to fall off. I dont have a problem using supper glue or jB weld on my stuff.

Call Zen Ray before you get either the super glue or the JB weld.

Steve, what is the "prime" in relation to new vortex binos? Better ED glass?

Also while I have your attention, will they be upgrading the 82 ED2 spotter also in the near future? lastly have you compared the Zen ED2 82 spotter to the Vortex Razor HD and Theron mag 82-I am going to buy one of these three soon and am trying to decide on which.

Thanks

The Prime is just a name for the new binocular. They did not elect to use an ED 4 designation because it is a diferent design, based on a more traditional single hinge. As far as I know, the Prime is a significant attempt by Zen Ray to improve the edge performance and flatten the field of the ZEN series. The resolution specs will be improved some too. First samples are maybe a month away, best case, as I mentioned above. It will have improved glass and coating technology. It is a triplet ED, air spaced objective system and will have two HD (Lanthum crown) glass elements in the eye piece to serve as field flatteners. So it has both HD glass and ED glass. It is going to cost somewhere in the $600-650 range. It will have just about the same fov as the ZEN series.

I have had the ZEN ED 2 and Razor HD spotters side by side. If you put each in the stay on case, where you can't see the name labels, I would have to see for myself that either ZEN or Razor owners could tell which one was which. The ZEN has a dielectric coating on the pentaprism, and the Razor is silver, so the ZEN might ultimately show itself to be a little brighter, but I doubt the difference is significant. As to ZED 2 spotter upgrades, I don't have a clue there.

I did a fairly long review of the Kowa Prominar 884 20-60, the Theron Mag 82 and the ZEN ED 2. I think I posted it here as well as on Bird forum and Optics Talk, if I didn't I have no idea why I didn't. Short story is I think the Kowa is the best spotter going, period. The ZEN and Mag 82 stand up very well, and I have yet to be sorry, after having the ZEN for over a year, to regret the purchase. I got it over the Theron because the dual focus knob of the ZEN (Razor too) was easier to fine focus on high magnification than was the single helical collar of the Mag 82. Depth of field is pretty shallow over 50x, and the Theron went to 75x. But the Theron can now be had for $850 and has both a superb 30x WA and a 25-75x zoom. That was just about the hardest optics decision I have ever had to make. The Theron is the clear leader right now on value with the holiday price they have, with both eye pieces included.

Update on my ED3's. I ended up sending them in for warranty work in January and February to fix the eye cups and focus knob. They forgot to glue the focus wheel sleeve the first time.

Not wanting to bake them every day in my truck I put them up and used my old cheap windrivers all summer as my truck glass.

I broke them out last week to go out west and spot goats. First day of use the focus wheel sleeve came off again. Second day of use the eye cup rubber came loose. Third day of use the same eyecup that had the rubber come loose, developed a problem turning in and out. Sent a email on Monday to Zen Ray and called today, waiting for a reply.

Received a email back from Zen Ray. They told me to box up my nocks and send them in and they would send me a new pair. Their customer service has been top notch. Almost makes me want to recommend their product. I hope the nocks I recieved the first time were a fluke.