I am not affiliated with Zen_ray but just bought their 8x43 ED bino that looks to be a clone of the Hawke 8x43 ED / ProMaster Infinity ED 8x42 that have been getting rave reviews of late. My price was $342 delivered which compares to $499 for the ProMaster and $479 for the Hawke. To get the discounts you need to 1st register on the Zen Ray site (this gets you a 10% off) and then they are currently offering coupons that can give you additional savings. For now, there is a $90 coupon (code "ifish") for the Zen 8x43 ED which together with the 10% discount gets you to $342 delivered to your door. They also shipped mine within a few hours from the order and sent me a notice and tracking number. Lastly these (new 2009 models) have a lifetime transferrable warranty. So feeling like I got myself a good deal thought to share this with the forum but again, I am a consumer with no affiliation to them. I should get these middle of next wek and can provide a review comparing them head to head to Vortex 8x42 Diamondback (which although seems a mismatch the Vortex up till now is the best performing bino I've ever had).

Thanks for the information. I'm looking forward to your impressions of this binocular. Ward

Both Kevin Purcell and I will have 8x43 and 10x43 ZEN ED's in hand tomorrow. They are in route overnight UPS to us now. Will post more when I see them. I wouldn't be surprised if FrankD is not in on this too, but I don't know about that.

I should have the new ZRS HD, both 8x and 10x in hand by the end of the month.

I think mine are priority mail but I'm pretty close to Portland, OR ... if so they should arrive tomorrow but I will be out!

I'll post some first impressions assuming I get out on Sunday (which I should). Perhaps Monday. Plus the sun should be out in Sunny Seattle(tm) which may help!

More later ...

I went to a demo put on by Zen-Ray a few months back and had the chance to view the new for 2009 ZEN ED. It was put on by their rep who is a real nice fellow. Anyway, it was the local Audobon store and they were nice enough to bring out any binocs we wanted to compare. We had side by side to compare, Leupolds, Leica's, Zeiss, Swaro and a number of Vortex, Pentax and a few others I can't recall. The Zen was pretty darn good compared to any of those, maybe the only ones for my eyes anyway that may have been better was the Nikon Edg - those are something else. It was a good rainy Oregon day that day so you could really see how clear/bright the Zens were - I like them much better than my Pentax DCF SP's. I will get a pair as soon as I have a little extra $$$$.