anyone going to pre-order the zen-ray prime hd?

[Rizzy]

Great, looking forward to your reviews. I am in the market for new binos and am starting to really look at the Prime HDs or the Ziess Conquest HDs. The Ziess are a bit lighter, however the Primes have more eye relief.

 

[2ski]

Having now had my Primes for a couple months, while not being an optics guru here are my impressions:

I have yet to hand my Primes to anyone and not had them say, "Wow". Granted these are all people that haven't looked through a ton of binos, but the image is fantastic on these. My buddy was with me at Cabelas last year looking at binos, and was pushing me towards the Leupolds and he got a peek at the Primes for the first time this last weekend, and he was pretty amazed.

I love the quality of the build. They just feel like a solid bino. And I like the focus wheel alot. It probably adds some weight, but I thought it feels really solid. The Swaros I tried out just didn't seem to have the same, "grip".

Some reviews I've read on other sites have mentioned the rolling ball to some extent which didn't really bug me. However, in a creek bottom this last weekend hunting whitetails, I did notice it when I tried to scan the Aspens quickly. Slowing down my scan really made a difference.

Lastly, the eyecups are big. I wouldn't have thought it possible that would make a big difference being a newbie to quality binos, but it really does. You WILL have to mess with the IPD to get an image without blackouts. The fit to your eyes will probably feel a little bit narrower than you normally feel when you use other binos, but once you get them set right, the picture is sweet.

 

[Rizzy]

Thanx for the feedback

 

[brettpsu]

I've had my Prime 8's for about a month now and can honestly say I will grab them before my Swaro 10x42 slc's. Partially because of babying my swaros but mainly because the image quality of the Primes is so pristine. The large ocular lens took a few hours to get use to but like others have said once everything is set the black outs are gone and only a perfect image is left.

Pros for the Prime: Exceptional Clarity (almost a 3d effect), good build quality, excellent in low light, price for what you get.

Cons for the Prime: A very slight bit of slop in the focus wheel (maybe 1/32-1/64), Diapoter is sensitive.

Overall A+ So close to the Alphas.

 

[Rizzy]

Thats a good point about babying the swaros, and one of the reasons I don't want to go all out and get top of the line binos

 

[brettpsu]

Rizzy, I purchased my Primes from Hunt hardcore, AKA outdoordan, and was very pleased with the way he does business. Contact him for a great price and great service.

 

[Nick Muche]

Dan is a great friend of mine and he will treat you right!

 

[Rizzy]

I will be sure to contact him if I go that route.

 

[Bambi Slayer]

Rizzy,
I would take a hard look at the Meopta Meostar B1 42mm HD series. After compairing these to a set of 10x42 Swarovski SLC's I think the Meopta is slightly better. The build of them is almost identical. I think i know what my next optic purchase is going to be. I am no optics expert. But i had a buddy with with a pair of zen-ray primes and i did not care for them. They were clear and seemed to be good glass but the eyecups were to big and just didn't feel right to me. Just my two cents

 

[Matt Cashell]

Rizzy,
I would take a hard look at the Meopta Meostar B1 42mm HD series. After compairing these to a set of 10x42 Swarovski SLC's I think the Meopta is slightly better. The build of them is almost identical. I think i know what my next optic purchase is going to be. I am no optics expert. But i had a buddy with with a pair of zen-ray primes and i did not care for them. They were clear and seemed to be good glass but the eyecups were to big and just didn't feel right to me. Just my two cents

BS is referring to the set of Primes we used in AK. BS spent a lot of hours behind the Primes. I just finished a write-up on them, and I think they are a great value. I currently have the Meostar HDs for review, and My initial impression is they are very very good.

 

[Rizzy]

Thanx for the suggestions, I ended up going with the Ziess conquest HD's