Cameras and Lenses
Hawke-Zen-or else ????
I'm utterly confused. It seems that there is a revolution on the go as far as ED glass equiped binoculars go, mainly (all?) from Chinese OEM. I see a lot of positive reviews, but find it difficult to shift through the various posts to get a final indication. For instance, related to some of the popular postings; what is the difference between a Hawke Frontier ED 8x43 and a Zen ED? Purchase price, including postage etc, seems the same here in the UK. HELP?? Thanks, Rene.
[QUOTE=ReneZ;1405266]I'm utterly confused. It seems that there is a revolution on the go as far as ED glass equipped binoculars go, mainly (all?) from Chinese OEM. I see a lot of positive reviews, but find it difficult to shift through the various posts to get a final indication. For instance, related to some of the popular postings; what is the difference between a Hawke Frontier ED 8x43 and a Zen ED? Purchase price, including postage etc, seems the same here in the UK. HELP?? Thanks, Rene.[/QUOTE]
Since the Hawke is best available in the UK, that is what I would order. You really have to nit pick to find a difference in these Chinese ED binoculars. They all represent extreme optical quality for the dollar. End your confusion and get the Hawke. The difference is not worth any worry.
I'm with Steve on this.
I suspect they may be from the same ODM and at the very least share a bunch of parts suppliers (there seems to be only on open-bridge enclosure in China 
)
The one thing that differentiates my Hawke ED from the Zen Ray ED (aside from US price!) is the "halo" issue outside the field stop is certainly fixed in the Zen Ray ED. The ZR is just a little brighter too.
I'm not sure if Hawke managed to get that fed back to their supplier to get it fixed. perhaps a small design revision might be needed. You could ask them. It was even mentioned in a national magazine review so you think they might try to fix their only issue.
If they're the same price I'd go for the ZR ED: slightly brighter; fixed halo issue. I find that's the one I'm picking up to go out birding for the birds (i.e. when I'm not taking others to evaluate).
Hawke of course have the advantage that you can turn up on their doorstep for warranty service in the UK. And I rather like some of the "other items" that come with the bin.
So this choice might come down to personal preference. Optically they're very close.