Post by: CementFinisher on February 23, 2013, 05:13:40 PM
Post by: Wacenturion on February 23, 2013, 05:22:38 PM
Post by: whacker1 on February 23, 2013, 05:26:17 PM
The Prime's are awesome. I had the first version of the Zen Ray Ed's prior and there is a lot of improvement over the last 3 or so years.
Post by: Steve C on February 23, 2013, 05:38:52 PM
Either the Prime or the McKinley is possessed of a wider and flatter field than the GR.
Post by: CementFinisher on February 23, 2013, 05:43:39 PM
Post by: Pathfinder101 on February 23, 2013, 06:54:34 PM
I just upgraded to the Prime and have been extremely impressed, However that sounds like a very good deal on the Gold Rings
The Prime's are awesome. I had the first version of the Zen Ray Ed's prior and there is a lot of improvement over the last 3 or so years.
Same here. I have the first edition EDs as well and love them. From what I have heard about the Primes I may have to upgrade myself. I know I have had a couple of buddies buy Zen-Rays after looking through mine. I am also a high school shooting coach and use mine indoors as well for watching my shooters in matches. The targets are very small (entire target about the size of a .50 cent piece, the bulls eye is literally the size of a pin-prick) and I use my EDs for scoring targets before they come off the line. More than once another coach has looked through my binos and assumed they were a thousand dollar plus set.
That being said, everything else I own is Leupold (rifle scopes, spotting scope, etc...). I was actually shopping for a good used Gold Ring Bino when I tried the Zen Rays 3 years ago and was sold. From what I could tell my EDs and the Gold Rings were the exact same quality back then. I assume the new Primes are better, so I would go with the Zen Rays. :twocents:
Post by: Maligator on February 23, 2013, 07:24:17 PM
The glass is great & the color representation is wonderful. Just take a look through the Zen Rays & compare them to much higher cost glass & you'll understand the inherant value ;)
Post by: Steve C on February 24, 2013, 08:05:34 AM
I'm not so hot on leupolds newer binos. The quality just doesn't seem to be there. I've used all but the McKinley's in their newer lines. How long have you been using them? What for? What kind of abuse?
The McKinley is newly released and has only been available for a few days. I use my optics as they need to be used. Optics are precision instruments that should not be abused. I always wonder at those questions. I guess one way to put it, you do realize a binocular is not a cement finishing tool?
I'll say the McKinley looks like you could bounce it full force throw off a brick wall, dust it off and go use it. Does that mean you will actually think you should be able to do that? Now I happen to be serious when I say the McKinley looks hell for stout. I use binoculars for something 365 days a year. I'm a farmer and always have some on the 4 wheeler or in the pickup.
The ZEN Prime HD looks as stout as the McKinley HD. Both look to be at least as durable as the Gold Ring. If you can or will beat either of those two apart, I don't think your problem is build quality :). In short they should be more than adequate for hard sustained USE as opposed to ABUSE.
At any rate you have Leupold's warranty and service to fall back on. While the language in the warranty does say "Limited lifetime to the original purchaser" Leupold told me they have not, do not and will not ever ask you for your original purchase receipt. Send in your binocular or scope and they'll fix it.
Post by: CementFinisher on February 24, 2013, 11:16:13 PM
Post by: Steve C on February 26, 2013, 11:15:54 AM
1- The design, and the standards within the design
2- The company
3- The Quality Control standards applied to the product
4- The warranty and repair service of the company
With regard to the McKinley, it is produced to the same technical standards of the Gold Ring. There are (according to Leupold) fifteen quality checks in the assembly line at the factory. Leupold puts them through another 45 checks before boxing them to send on their merry way. These include bench tests of collimation, resolution, optical balance between barrels, and light transmission.
It is a little early to see how well the McKinley will hold up. They look like you could knock them off the tailgate of your truck with a baseball bat, pick them up, dust them off and go use them. Any binocular is a precision instrument and cannot be made bomb proof indestructible.
To answer the question, they are made in China. For all I know, that is one reason there are all the checks, but the checks have been made before you get the binocular.
Post by: MtnMuley on May 06, 2013, 03:44:46 PM
Post by: kerrdog on October 14, 2013, 08:57:11 PM
I have the Zen Ray ED2s so I can't speak to the newest version but I can say that my binos are spectacular & I'm not sure how they could improve upon them aside from a slightly better fitting glass cover.
The glass is great & the color representation is wonderful. Just take a look through the Zen Rays & compare them to much higher cost glass & you'll understand the inherant value ;)
Even my Vista's are great. Kinda heavy, but they look great.