I purchased my second set of 7x36 ED2's after using my first set for about four months. As a former Product Specialist for Cabela's, I am familiar with just about every make and model of binocular out there. I've used Svarovski EL's at a retail price of $2600, and yes, they are better than anything else else you can buy, but they are NOT worth anywhere near $2300 more than the Zen ED2's! Moreover, if Field of View is important for your needs, you cannot find anything near the quality of the 7x36 ED2 binocular at any price. Also, the service provided by Charles is outstanding. You cannot go wrong with the no-questions-asked lifetime guarantee either. I plan on purchasing additional Zen Ray products in the future. (Posted on 5/6/12)

I have been look for new bino for years. Comparing everything on the market to the Alpha binos. I bought these demo units when I seen the incredible deal on them and I could not be happier. These are a lot of bino for the money. Clear lenses, strong body, look brand new. I am a very happy customer.

(Posted on 3/30/12)

I ordered these ED2 7x36 Binos to replace a set of Steiner Military and Marine 6x30's, which I used for still-hunting for deer in deep woods and swamps of northern Michigan. Steiner refused to repair the 6x30's because they are no longer offered in the U.S. I loved the 450' Field of View on the 6-power Steiners, but was unable to find a replacement for them until I stumbled onto the Zen-Ray 7x36, which has a 477' FOV! The fantastic glass quality and good mechanics are a real bonus. I just ordered another 7x36 as a gift for a good hunting friend. For the heavy cover hunter, these cannot be beat. As long as I can get this kind of quality in a low-powered optic, I'll stay with Zen-Ray. (Posted on 3/29/12)

The clarity and low light performance cannot be beat in this price range. (Posted on 3/28/12)

these are so bright and sharp, but the thing i value most (as an artist) is the magnificent COLOR BALANCE, rich and true, of these stunning optics! (Posted on 3/16/12)

I've had these for about a month and a half now and I like them better every day. I own about a dozen pair of good quality binoculars and these have become my hands down favorite pair. I love the bright views, stellar center optical quality and expansive field of view. In fact I like them so much I bought a pair of the 9x36 to go with them. (Posted on 3/7/12)

Paralysis by analysis. That is the point I had reached in looking for a new set of binoculars. Go to 10 different websites and you will get 10 different opinions. My goal was to get the best pair of binoculars I could for $ 200 or less. I really wanted to buy new as I had been disappointed with what I received using online auction sites.

I came across several articles raving about the Zen Ray products as well as say numerous comments about the positive experiences folks were having with their staff. You would think the decision would have been easy at the point. Not so. Although I knew WHO I wanted to buy my binoculars from I now needed to know WHICH model I wanted WHAT magnification / objective size would suit my purposes. I sent Zen Ray an email telling them I wanted a pair that would be suitable for medium range outdoor activities but also indoor sporting events, specifically hockey. Within 24 hours I had my reply, and due to the greater field of view and proximity of what I would be watching, they suggested I go with the Zen ED2 in the 7 x 36 setup. Coincidentally, they had several pairs in their "Demo" bin and carried a reduced price that put them within $ 5 of my spending limit.

When the binoculars arrived I thought they had made a mistake and that they sent me new binoculars instead of the demo units. The box and contents looked as if they had never been opened or touched, the lenses were perfect and I looked over the entire product and did not see a nick, scratch or imperfection anywhere. There are very impressive binoculars, I cannot believe I waited this long to buy a pair.

Within minutes I was outside scanning the tree line. I must say I panicked when looked through the ED2's. Everything was off, I was seeing items overlap and could not get anything to line up. What did I do? Imagine how embarrassed I was when I figured out that you had to thread out both eye pieces to get the proper distance to each lens. But who wants to take the time to read the instructions?

I used the Zen's for the first time Monday for the first hockey game of the season. It was amazing. The ice actually looked white and you could see the difference in colors of the dark blue compared to the black - I had never noticed this before with my other pair of "zoom" binoculars. The 7 x 36 were light enough to hold up for an extended period of time and the field of view allowed me to see the entire rink, even from a reasonable close seating position.

Overall I am thrilled with the purchase. I am confident that other Zen Ray products are of equal quality, I would definitely recommend this company and their products to anyone looking for a top pair of binoculars. I just can't imagine optics and better at any price, thank you for all of your help and recommendations. You have a customer for life.

Scott E.
Tampa, FL. (Posted on 10/19/11)

This review will not break new ground, as I found the 7x36 ED2's to be everything they are cracked up to be. If you read reviews here or on websites like birdforum or opticstalk, you will already know the basics, and I can just add another voice confirming that the general consensus is accurate:

PRO - with a combination phenomenal light transmission, good depth of field, wide field of view, and awesome CA control the view is gorgeous, vivid and relaxing. The view is bright, with rich colors, great sharpness in the center, and no color fringing.

The bottom line is at the price of these demo pairs, for 300 bucks you cannot find better raw optics, period. The value proposition on these is simply incredible, especially given the great service provided by Charles and Zen-Ray. It is a great time to be a "budget birder" as we have finally reached a point where the difference between a phenomenal sub $500 pair of bins and the true "alphas" is pretty minuscule.

That said, I ended up returning my pair. Why??? Again, no new ground is broken, as all of these flaws have been mentioned by others:

CON - The deal killer for me was the poor stray light control. While things have reportedly improved since the first ED2's, the internal baffling is still not the best and (my pair at least) the 7x36 ED2's are plagued by flare, causing veiling crescents of glare to obscure the bottom half of the FOV in certain situations.

Now, there is probably some sample variation as well as personal issues (everyone's face is shaped differently and somethings bother some more than others, etc) that makes this worse for some than others, as there are plenty of folks who don't seem to mind this. However, for me it was really annoying (especially since I was directly comparing to a pair of Vortex Vipers which didn't have this problem).

The other "flaws" with this binocular are all very minor nitpicks.... again nothing new here, and none of these would have caused me to return the ED2's on their own, but I should point them out as one more corroborating voice:

- poor edge performance... part of this is the wide field of view, but outside of the inner 70-80% of the field there is blurring, distortion, etc. This is not a big deal to me at all since I don't spend time looking at field stops, but it is true as you have probably already heard.

- focus knob... one of the compromises you must make when delivering this kind of optical quality at a low price point is that you can't over-engineer every aspect of the design like Swarovski. The focus knob feels a bit cheap, the action is fairly smooth and buttery but the parallel ridges don't give the best grip and there is definitely some slop as reported by others.

- ergonomics / looks... I think the rubber armor is too slick and plasticky, the little bumpies on the sides are better in theory than reality, and the overall look is a bit cheesy with all the bling and badging.

I want to reiterate once again that the optics are SUPERB and all of the above are minor nitpicks, which most people probably wouldn't care about. But for the obsessive types, they are enough to keep this from being a "perfect" package. That said, there are always compromises when delivering to a much lower price point and Charles has done an amazing job.

Furthermore, it looks like all of the issues above have been corrected with the new ED3: better coatings and glare control, better rubber armor, better focus knob, and a classier look. So despite the fact that I ended up returning these 7x36 ED2's, an ED3 may still be in my future! (Posted on 10/17/11)

After a three week evaluation against several other top rated mid-priced binoculars, these 7x36 ED2s are the hands down winner. I am not about to burn money on a pair of "alpha" bins, but in the mid-price category, the image quality stood head and shoulders above the other contenders. I bought a demo pair to save a few dollars, and they are indistinguishable from new.

- Sharpness, contrast, color rendering, and depth of field are astonishing, with a great 3D view. The image quality also holds very well across the FOV, with only the slightest degradation confined to the very outermost edges. To me, this makes the ED2 a true "Wide-FOV" binocular, since the whole FOV is usable with no distracting artifacts or annoyances in the periphery.
- Good campatability with eyeglasses.
- Nice light feel, very comfortable to hold.
- Over-sized focusing knob is smooth and quick - easy to find focus and track birds in flight. A pleasure to use.
- Build quality is very good, if not excellent. Eye cups stay put. Locking diopter is nice. There are no rattles or sloppy mechanisms, nothing is too stiff or too loose, and nothing seems cheaply made. I find this remarkable given the price point and country of origin.
- Supplied accessories are good quality. I would like to see a slightly nicer neck strap, but that's nit-picking to be honest. I am satisfied with the strap, case and lens covers.

In short, these are superb binoculars at a bargain price.

As for the competition, for three weeks I put these up against several other bins in direct side-by-side testing:

Leupold Katmai 6x32. These are a superb binocular in their own right, and I still own them because of their diminutive size and weight; they are a great bin to travel with. Compared with the ED2, however, they are not quite as sharp or contrasty. The ED2s are consistently able to resolve greater detail - the magnification difference is only 6x vs. 7x, but the level of detail visible through the ED2 makes it seem greater. The Katmai color rendering is also less saturated and a little on the cold side, with just the slightest CA - it is easier to distinguish bird markings through the ED2s. The Katmais also suffer some pincushion distortion which I don't personally mind, but others may care about. The Katmai's also lose a few points in build quality ... the focus knob rubs slightly at one point in it's rotation, and the eyecups simply will not stay put when removing the rain guard - I always have to twist them back down. Objective lens caps are not tethered, so I had to find a replacement set. Ergonomically, they are not as comfortable to hold and use as the larger ED2's, but I consider this an inevitable trade-off for the compactness advantage. I would love to see Zen-Ray make a compact 32mm ED bin to compete with these.

I also purchased (and later returned), the Bushnell Legend Ultra-HD 10x42, 8x42, and 8x36. I had read quite positive reviews, but was rather disappointed with the Ultra-HDs. Even with the significant price difference, I was expecing better. The 10x42 has serious eye relief problems, and the 8x42 doesn't work very well with glasses either. The 8x36 worked OK with my glasses, and offered center-field sharpness and contrast marginally better than the Katmai and very close to the ED2, with just a tiny bit of CA which was completely absent in the ED2. However, the sweet spot is very small (roughly the middle 1/3rd of the diameter), and the optical performance drops off dramatically away from center-field, with severe loss of sharpness and prominent color fringing in the outer half of the view; I found this persistently distracting. Oustide of the sweet spot, they were actually considerably worse than my old (albeit pretty decent) Bushnell Excursion 8x42.

To sum up, I think it is very hard to find a better binocular under $500 today, and I can recommend these without any hesitations. In my opinion, the 7x36 ED2 is also well worth the extra cost relative to even the best binoculars in the next price bracket down. If you're an avid bird watcher, you won't regret purchasing a pair of these. (Posted on 7/23/11)

I'm very pleased to have these arrive looking (and smelling!) brand new.

Focus is improved over my 8x43 ED2 and feels almost ideal to me. The view is comparable to my Nikon 8x30 EII porros, in terms of big AFOV, ease of view, depth of focus and 3D effect. That's saying something: the Nikons are a classic. The 7x36 ED2s beat the Nikons in colour saturation and low-light performance, and of course they are waterproof.

My only disappointment is that the soft edge zone is off-center in one of the barrels, such that it forms a crescent rather than an even ring. But it's tolerable and not worth sending them back for (from the southern hemisphere). And, hey, sample variation still exists at ten times the price.

Overall, I'm again impressed with the optical quality that ZR delivers at such a low price point. (Posted on 7/12/11)

I'm very pleased to have these arrive looking (and smelling!) brand new.

Focus is improved over my 8x43 ED2 and feels almost ideal to me. The view is comparable to my Nikon 8x30 EII porros, in terms of big AFOV, ease of view, depth of focus and 3D effect. That's saying something: the Nikons are a classic. The 7x36 ED2s beat the Nikons in colour saturation and low-light performance, and of course they are waterproof.

My only disappointment is that the soft edge zone is off-center in one of the barrels, such that it forms a crescent rather than an even ring. But it's tolerable and not worth sending them back for (from the southern hemisphere). And, hey, sample variation still exists at ten times the price.

Overall, I'm again impressed with the optical quality that ZR delivers at such a low price point. (Posted on 7/12/11)

I find that these are excellent. I have a pair of Zeiss Dialyts and a couple of pairs of Zepher binoculars, which are really excellent. I also have a pair of Zeiss Jena bins. I am impressed and happy with the optics of the Zen Ray. They focus beautifully, have a wonderful wide field of view and great depth of field. If I were to complain about anything, I would say that they are slightly heavy and long. As I don't design binoculars, possibly the weight and length are necessitated by the design. The Zephyrs I have are amazingly lightweight and very sharp but they are porro bins so I assume it is easier to design a lightweight short porro. The depth of field the Zen Ray's offer, as well as the wide view really suit my preferences. For the price, they are really great. I am very impressed and happy to have purchased them (Posted on 7/10/11)

I purchased my second pair of Zen
Ray binocularssome time ago. In 2009 I got my first one; a 8 x 43 ED2 . I am very satisfied with them. Use for hunting and bird spotting.
Hunting deer and boar in very difficulty circumstances in Holland and Germany confinced me of the quality of Zen Ray. Ergonomics, colour, sharpness are excellent. Befor I used Zeiss, and Bushnell glasses. I sold them and use for several years my Zen Ray. My friend and I compared the ED with his Swarovski. We concluded, that the Zens
are even as good usable in our circumstances as de Swarovs.
In the passed I used a Zeiss 7 x 42 and I alwys logend for 7 x glasses wth a wide field. My experiences with the Zens Rays brought me again on the site and I ordered the 7 x 36 ED2. This week I got them and using them a few days I can say : No regret. Top. Highr recommanded for hunting foxes, as a walking companion with even under dark circumstances very good charpness. I am very satisfied with both glasses.
(Posted on 6/22/11)

I picked up a ZR 7x35 Ed2 to compliment my Leica 10x40 Trinovid set.

These binoculars are not as small or compact as my older Trinovids but they certainly deliver. And having pointed to size, they feel and handle beautifully. The focusing is superb. It is fast and responsive as you'd want it to be.

Optically I find the 7x36 Ed2s to be first rate; fabulous in low light, and I have to work to get them to flare in direct sun. They are sharp well out of the center and tracking is a breeze even with one hand. I personally feel after using them (and I have been around good glass) that people reviewing really pick hairs! These will be your go to binoculars.

The lower covers flop off of the binoculars pulling them out of the bag and that needs to be addressed and ZR should send me new ones when they are avaiable.

It is no wonder we read from so many people on different forums that these bins are keepers! I am by the way new to 7 power and loving it! (Posted on 6/17/11)

These are nice binoculars. I wouldn't be a able to tell the difference of the pair I received from a new set.

I have read a lot of reviews of these bins on the net before I purchased and the few negative items I read had to do with the softer edges. This feature does not bother me as the field of view is so wide I really do not notice the edge of the view with my eyes unless I purposely try to notice it.

I have compared these bins to the Nikon Monarch 8x42 and Steiner 8x30 Predators and have to say the ZR 7X36 are much better optically and are much easier to view looking in the direction of a setting sun.

One thing I have to say I was a little surprised about the size. I thought they would be a little smaller then they are. I would say they are a tad bit larger than the Monarch 8x42.

I would recommend these bins to hunters looking for a fairly inexpensive binocular. The only negative thing I have found so far is that the objective covers fall of easily. In the couple of weeks I have had them they fell off twice, once in the field and the other time at home. I know one of these days I will loose the covers and have to get replacements. (Posted on 6/16/11)

Great binos at a cheap price. The brightness and field of view are perfect for the mountains. A little blurry around the edges, but your eyes arent focusing on the edge anyways. Better than my old gold rings. Would recommend to friends. (Posted on 6/12/11)

Since my wife's interest in birding has blossomed in the last few months, I decided to get her some good binoculars. Having owned the 8x43 ED's for over a year, and familiar with the quality of viewing they provide, I had no hesitation in going with Zen Ray again. Every time we go birding she says how much she loves her 7x36's.

On 2 occasions we have compared with fellow birder's Swarovski binos, and all agree that the Zens are very close to the quality viewing they offer (at a fraction of the price).

Prompt delivery too. Only 8 days to Australia! (Posted on 5/30/11)

This will be short and sweet as I'm not into 'tech talk'! I live in a rural area and wanted to get a better view of our furred and feathered friends, especially at twilight. These binos do the job, and are especially good as the light is fading. I can, at last, successfully identify all the birds at the bird table - and keep an eye on the cat prowling through the long grass! Also, look forward to using them when we visit the beautiful areas of Killarney and Dingle next month. (Posted on 5/29/11)

Owning several overpriced so-called alpha binoculars, and three of the ZEN ED2s I have to say that the latter offers pretty much all I need for birding. The difference with the so-called alphas has more to do with social status and aura than with quality. The 7x36 is simply a stunning piece of no-nonsense equipment for people who put quality first. Great exterior, excellent optics free of color fringing and ghosting, relaxed wide field of view, and compact enough to follow me wherever I go. I consider this one of the very best deals on the market. (Posted on 5/26/11)

I was looking for a set of mid-size glasses to complement my Leica compact binoculars which have spoiled my eyes. I compared the Zens to mid-size Leicas and Swarovski ELs as well as Nikon Monarchs. The Zens outclassed the Nikons and were virtually indistinguishable to the other much more expensive contenders. The 7x36's exit pupil made these brighter than the others and with price part of the equation it was a no-brainer. In the 7x36 size there is really no competition to the Zen Ray ED2s. (Posted on 5/20/11)

Huge field of view. Bright and detailed image. Some distortion on outside of view, but past my field of perception so it goes unnoticed unless looking at edge(hence the 4 quality rating). Better than my leupold gold rings. I have no regrets and would recommend them to anyone that wants good quality without the $1000 plus price tag. (Posted on 5/20/11)

The demo pair of binos are supberb. Quality and clairity. These will get lots of use. I would have never known they were a demo set. I did look at a lot of binoculars including the big germans, and these are every bit as clear. The only improvement would be a locking focus. (Posted on 5/11/11)

From an optical point of view the glass seems as clear and bright as any reasonable person could expect. If there are any aberrations or optical defects, they are simply beyond the normal range of my visual acuity.

From a mechanical point of view they seem reasonably solid and focus smoothly. Only time will tell how well they hold up, but nothing is obviously substandard in the build quality so far. (Posted on 5/7/11)