How do they compare?
Scoutman,
There is a long answer to this and a short one. If pressed for the short one I would say that the Zen Ray Zen ED's image quality is overall "better" than the Leupold Cascade porro. Handling is a toss up depending on which type of design you like.
The long answer is that each has its own set of strong points and weak points. The Zen ED is:
- Brighter
- a tad sharper
- has slightly less CA in the image
- has a wider field of view
The Leupold Cascade porro has:
- significantly better depth of field
- slightly better edge performance
- a true 3D effect provided only by porros
Personally I love the handling of the Cascade porros. Short of the Swaro EL 8x32 and the Meopta 8x32 I think the Cascade porro has the best handling of any bin I have put my hands on...and arguably the best porro handling out there. The subtle contour of the porro dogleg fits my hands like the proverbial glove. The focus mechanism, though a tad slower than ideal, is smooth as butter and considering the superb depth of field on this model really isn't much of an issue unless you do alot of extremely close birding.
You have to consider the price difference too in my opinion. The Zen ED is a steal at the current $360 and I would grab one while they are that price. That IFish coupon can't last forever. However, the Cascade porros are showing up under $200 now and that cannot last forever either. My guess is the Cascade porro will soon go the way of the Nikon SE and E2...a few here and there....so grab one while you can.
Hope this helps.
I don't see the Cascades listed by Eagle Optics.
Bob