Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Zen-Ray, good, bad or ugly?

Just wondering about these. Are they any good? I was looking at the 10X43 ED2's and wondered if anyone here had tried them.

Terry

Do a search. On any optics forum. These are the single most intensely discussed/cussed binoculars out there over the last year. Those who use them by and large praise them. Those that have not cuss them.

IN short:
Astonishing resolution, brightness, contrast and clarity. Yes they really do challenge binoculars that cost $1,500 or more. Simple statement. Same thing with the Promaster Infinity Elite ELX ED from Doug here at CNY. They are one of the very best bang for the buck binoculars there is.

Quite frankly the #1 deal here seems to be the fact they are Chinese mfg. There it is, it becomes your call whether you buy one of these for $400, or spend $1,500 plus for an alpha. Other options nearly as good in image (or just as good) are thee Meopta Meostar, Leupold Gold Ring, Vortex Razor and maybe the Minox HG.

The next thing is the newness of the design. That binocular is just a new design. It is not a knock off of something else. Zen Ray is doing a so far stand up warranty service job, but they have not been around too long, so time has not told it tale there.

The build quality is on par with any other glass in its price class. They are not as refined as the alpha. So what, they are a $400 glass. What you get in the image should do it for you.

About the only thing to do is order one and try it and see if you like it.

Yes they are that good. A poor binocular would have fallen flat out of the gate. I have the 7x36, 8x43, 10x43 ZEN ED and the 8x42 Promaster.

RED CHINA

SUPPORT MAO!!!

Steve,

I'm sure you've covered this before but what was your final take on the 7x36? These are also ED2's correct? I looked up the specs and they seem to be a nice bino, are they physically not much smaller than the 42's? Hard to tell from pictures.

Any more insights would be appreciated.

I had a pair of 10x43 ED2's briefly and the easiest way for me to sum them up is:

$1,000.00 view
$300.00 build quality
$5.00 accessories

400 bucks is 400 bucks. I'm not gonna drop that on a new, unproven Chinese company that may be gone tommorrow. mtmuley

For arguements sake I could ask you the following:

You could buy 4 or 5 pairs of Zen Rays for one Leica or Swaro and get 98% of the view, you don't need to worry about warranty and I would assume multiple pairs would outlast one Alpha. Seriously why would you care about the warranty . . .

That's comming from a guy that uses Leica, Swaro and other high end optics. Just food for thought

I'll look for your Leica and Swaro's in the classifieds...

I suppose all companies started out as unproven at some point, did they not?

I have been told the Zen Rays compare to my ProMaster Elite ED's and can tell you for a fact my 8X42 will stand up all day against my uncles Swaro 7X42......$399 for my ProMasters.......call it what you want, but they are worth every dime. Kind of hypocritical to say I will not buy from China, but I will from Germany.....

I have the promasters (8x42's) also, very nice indeed.

Sold a pair of 8x32 Ultravid's about 4 or 5 months ago in the classifieds, they were nice. Will get another set of Ultravids sometime in the future.

The ZEN ED 2 7x36 is the best of the bunch I think. The 7x36 only came in the dielectric coated ED 2 format. The first run showed some people were pretty bothered by what is called veiling glare. Looking toward a light source (such as scanning underneath the mid day sun) there was an annoying glare visible as crescent shaped blotches. This is where I gave Zen Ray credit for warranty and service because they managed to correct the flaw and get a fix applied to the subsequent production. They did it in an amazingly short time, far faster than I ever figured they could do. It was a pretty simple thing, just a different blackening application one an internal surface and adding another internal baffle.

Anyway the fix evidently worked and anything you buy from them now in 7x36 configuration will be OK. This never was an issue with the larger x43 mm binoculars.

I wound up keeping the 7x36 and the 10x43. My 7x is the original run and I was not one of the people who saw the glare, so I am plenty happy with it. I sent my 8x43 ED 1 and ED 2 back today and will get another 7x36 with the fix.

The thing about the 7x36 is that the 7x vs 8x, while not much different in magnification sure shows a DEFINITE and marked improvement in depth of field. That coupled with the very wide fov gives a very nice feeling of superior depth perception. Very little focusing is needed. That extra depth perception (in my eyes anyway) makes detail stand out better at distance with the 7x over the 8x. It took me quite awhile to get this across to myself. While at distance, the 8x image looked a little bigger, I could get more detail off the rack of either of a couple of large (150-160") Muley bucks wintering with a bunch of does about a mile or two from the house. The typical convenient viewing range was 1,200 yds to about a mile. They were living in sage and juniper adjacent to an alfalfa pivot.

They are physically smaller than the x43. That is another equal plus for them over the x43 for me. While they are smaller than the x42, they are as large as the small end of the x42mm glass, bring pretty similar in overall size and heft to the Nikon Monarch 8x42 I have. The 7x is an inch shorter, the barrels are visibly smaller than the x43, which makes the grip nicer IMO. The 7x is about 6 oz lighter than the 8x. They feel much nicer at the end of the day .

EDIT: Probably should add that I have the Promaster 8x42, so having an 8x43 ZEN was a little redundant (let alone two), one reason why both ZEN ED 8x43 are going back.

I would agree with Waputi, he would summarize my feelings as I also tried a pair but was not happy.

If you are used to an alpha, the view, the handling, build are not there.

If you are looking for a $400.00 pair of binoculars they may be worth a look.

When I buy anything, warranty, reputation are very important in this throw away world!

Skywalker,

I don't know why it is hypocrisy to buy a product made in a country that currently (and for the past 50+ years) has a pretty decent human rights record and is an ally of U.S. and Canada (didn't notice where you were from) vs. buying a product from a country that oppresses their own people, has the U.S. over a barrel financially, and is not exactly a friend of the U.S. and Canada militarily or otherwise. From an environmental standpoint, Communist China is horrible (getting better but still horrible). From a human rights perspective, Communist China is horrible, particularly considering how they treat Christians who won't practice the adulterated Communist-modified version. Communist China is the biggest threat long-term to U.S. (and Canadian) security.

From an economic perspective (and anyone buying Zen-Ray due to the economic aspect should appreciate these issues), the Communist government of mainland China is using the money they are getting from the U.S. and Canada (and elsewhere) to
1. buy up oil reserves around the world, including off the coast of Florida
2. buy up the world's reserves of rare earth metals (check out what the implications of that are) and other minerals/metals critical to production of various products
3. buy up U.S. debt with the ability to exert tremendous pressure on the U.S. government in ways we probably aren't going to like
4. infringe on intellectual property rights of individuals and corporations from the U.S. and other countries, which may seem abstract to some, but it is a big deal to people who understand the long-term implications.
All of these things that China is doing economically will ultimately lead to higher prices in the long-term for you and your children, IF you can even buy the products you want to buy because China holds rights to the raw materials needed for the products.

You do know that businesses in Communist China are tools of the Communist government, correct? Basically, the Communist government owns the businesses, and anyone who buys Communist Chinese goods is funding the activities of the Communist government, including active efforts to steal advanced missile and other technology from the U.S, building up their military that has their missiles and doctrine pointed toward fighting the U.S., and oppressing, in many cases brutally, over a billion people. You want to be funding that? Would you have been voluntarily funding the Soviet government of the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War?

Do you want to face your Maker and explain to Him that you knew about the way that the Communist Chinese government used the money you sent them (through purchasing their products) to oppress over a billion people, including torturing Christians and oppressing the families of the ones being tortured, and you went ahead and sent them your money anyway?

So Ramblin, you are telling me that you have never purchased any, no one, item that was made China?

Ramblin,

If everything you say about China is true, it will happen regardless of whether I buy a Zen Ray binocular. I'm just looking out for #1 because no one else is, especially not my government. I have a Swaro 7x42 and a Zen ED 8x43. I like the Zen better. It is brighter, just as sharp and the color is better. I don't know about their warranty because I haven't needed it. If the company were to go out of business and a repair became necessary, I would just take my lumps. I've had defective American made products and wasn't able to come to a satisfactory conclusion. Where it's made is no guarantee.

I have the 8x43's and think they are excellent when compared to glass in the same price range. Got my money's worth for sure.

Well said Razorback, so there you have the Ugly.

My Dad who fought in Europe during WWll, and my uncle who fought in the Pacific, might have made similar comments about Germany, Austria, and Japan. Just food for thought. BTW, I have a pair of Zen ED 8x43, and they are great.

I certainly agree with most of your comments. Number 3 is really our governments fault, both Democratic & Republican. I'm an EE & have been in the manufacturing industry for over 40 years with a number of global manufacturers. I have many friends that are chief design engineers & managers that deal directly with the Chinese. One design engineer is with one of the largest manufacturers of military radios in the world. When they laid off all assemblers in Maryland & began assembly in China two things happened. Of course price declined, but quality/failure rate improved significantly. I am told repeatedly by some of the best engineers in the US that the Chinese are second to none in developing software & lets say analytical engineering. I am told their universities do not have many of the routine electrical/electronics products we have available here so focus on more of a theoretical & analytical aspect of engineering. I am semi-retired but own a design/sales electrical business. I represent a Belgium transformer manufacturer(most others are US based) with one plant in the US. Quality is outstanding & equal to the best the US offers. I recently reviewed some Chinese high voltage products & they were not that much inferior, actually almost as good as the best in the US. I am certainly not promoting Chinese products, but the fact is that many of their products are quite good & steadily improving. I know nothing about Zen-Ray, but China is advancing fast in engineering capabilities. I am told by those that know that within 20 years the Chinese will be as good as the best in the world. I am involved with many military/government projects(many classified) since I live in the Wash.,D.C. area & have friends with CIA, NASA, & other intelligence groups. I was involved with many of the classified military satellite installations in the Wash.,D.C. area. Most of you would be horrified at the intelligence gathering in the US by the Chinese & the concern many in our military command have about possible future conflicts with the Chinese.