Sometimes you have to go looking for optics review opportunities, and sometimes the opportunity drops in your lap. This is the latter sort. A couple of weeks ago I had a PM in my inbox at one of the forums I frequent It was from Pat, owner of Predator Optics, inquiring if I would be interested in reviewing some of his stuff. Truth be told, he did not have to twist my arm real hard. We asked each other some questions, related some stances and opinions to each other and as a result of that conversation I received a package from the little brown truck that had a Theron MAG 82 spotting scope, one Wapiti 8x42 HQ binocular (his lower price alternative) and a Wapiti 8x42 APO-ED (his top end glass).
So, enter the Theron brand. It is pretty apparent that they are setting their sights on the same price to quality ratio as Zen Ray has been doing. So I figured, why not, did they make the cut or not? Well, yes they have. That Wapiti APO-ED is a serious binocular. So this immediately will beg the question…which one is better? It is a fair question too. This is where the difficulty in writing this arises. The ZEN ED 2 is no less serious…so which one?
Above the ZEN ED x43, Theron Wapiti APO-ED, ZEN ED x36 and on the edge a The Wapiti HQ.
Didn't get the Wapiti HQ in the picture, but it looks just like the APO-ED but shorter and no silver ring.
After straining my optical nerves, I finally concluded that they were more different in what matters than alike. By different, I mean different, not better or worse. So how are they different? The Theron APO-ED, like the ZEN ED, is a clear upgrade over the original Vortex Viper and certainly the Nikon Monarch.
Ergonomics:
There is a substantial difference in the way these glasses handle. The ZEN is the open bridge style and the Theron is the more traditional piano hinge. The Theron is long for a piano hinge, but still shorter than the ZEN. It is about the same weight as the ZEN ED, but feels heavier. There is the perception that the open bridge style is less sturdy than the piano hinge, so that will have a bearing on choice. Having seen a few open hinge binoculars without their armor, I was amazed at how much surface area there is on that hinge attachment surface in relation to the area of the ocular it is part of. Several times more surface contact than with the piano style, you just can’t see it because the armor covers most of it up. However, having said that, I think the construction goes to the Theron.
Image:
Here is where differences will be most apparent. When an optics company settles on a set of specifications, they have had to walk a pretty fine line. The line Zen Ray evidently chose with the ZEN ED series was to go with the widest fov they could do. In their perception, that was what they saw as the greater demand. So while they do have an industry best fov in both the 30mm+ and 40+mm class, there is of necessity a couple of weaknesses that come with the choice. The ZEN ED has a little pincushion at the edge, and there is also a little field curvature as well. The single easiest way to identify a ZEN ED image against an alpha is the softer edge, the double ring, pincushion and distortion, as almost all binoculars do not have a completely sharp edge. Since most people pay more attention to centerfield view, this is usually not a problem. However, some people are hyper sensitive to edge defects. When that is where you are, it is a big deal and those folks are really vocal about it. So, you can’t please everybody.
Theron seems to have decided on a different approach. They went to a flat image and sharp edge performance as their performance standard. So, this is a bright, flat, and sharp to the edge glass. The Wapiti APO-ED additionally uses HD low dispersion glass in the ocular as a field flattener. There is distortion at the edge, necessary to counteract rolling ball. There always is in binoculars. But there is a lot less here than almost anything else I can think of.
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