Replacing stolen gear

[RobF]

Some thieving toe rag has stolen all our project optics. :storm:
As the bins and scopes were quite old, the insurance is only paying out £150 for a pair of bins, £450 for a Kowa scope, £400 for an Opticron scope with zoom, £300 for an Opticron with a fixed eyepiece, and £200 for a leica laser range-finder (for distance sampling).

Can anyone recommend optics within these prices? I know its a limited budget but its all we have to play with! Also, are there any companies which might offer a discount on a job lot?

Thanks in advance.

Rob

[postcardcv]

Really sorry to hear that you've had you're gear nicked.

As for replacements - have a look at Opticron Oregon bins, they are rof prisms, fully water proof and cost £109 for 8x42s and £119 for 10x42s - within your budget you might strugle to find anything better.

As for scopes you could get a couple of Opticron IS scopes (either 60 or 70mm versions), one with zoom one with fixed. It's worth paying the extra for the HDF eyepeices, they significantly improve the scopes performance, should be able to get 2 for well under £700. The new Kow 601 series with zoom eyepeice should set you back around £450ish so you should be able to replace with similar stuff. I think that £200 is about right for a Leica rangefinder.

I am sure that most retailers will be happy to offer a bit of discount if you buy all this kit from them.

[postcardcv]

I think that £200 is about right for a Leica rangefinder.

Though I think wrong... just checked and £300 is nearer the mark for a Leica one, but I think you'll be able to pick up another brand one for £200.

[Rob Smallwood]

Try watching Ebay - good quality optics come up from time to time and can be bought quite reasonably.

TSN 3s sell for between £290 and £400, under £350 is a good buy I'd say.

Avoid ridiculously low prices from abroad - they will at best be re-furbished and at worst bogus sales!

Check that the seller has positive feedback - or at lest no negative feedback and ask questions of the seller that will give you a good idea of whether or not they know much about the item.

I have both bought and sold optics succesfully on ebay with no problems.

[John Fleet]

why not go direct to Opticron in this country? - I'd be astonished if they weren't prepared to put a package deal together for you - some good PR for them - or how about inFocus on a similar tack?

I suspect that you'll not be wanting to spend the time or risk of trading on eBay, but if you are able/interested in buying off the net, you could do much worse than visit 7dayshop for bins - the stuff they sell is staggeringly cheap - perfectly good BAK4 prism porros for under £20 that stand comparision with gear costing more than five times the price....

Good luck!

John

[POP]

Have a look at what seconhand gear the optic stores have on offer,you can get some good bargains.

POP

[RobF]

Thanks for the info, I'll have a look around.

Cheers,


Rob