Give me some documented cases where you have tested a Swarovski binocular and found optical defects and what were they. I would be very interested in hearing what kind of optical defects you have observed on them because Swarovski prides themselves on quality control and 100% testing of all binoculars being shipped to assure no problems. ...
Hi Dennis,
I don't actually look through bins much except the ones that I buy, but I have experience with all the major brands, and in the course of making purchases I've found a surprisingly high percentage of flawed instruments at all price levels. I've bought most of my bins mail-order from reputable places (e.g. Eagle Optics, Cabelas, B&H, Adorama). I routinely find flaws in alignment or assembly of non-alphas, flaws that are so bad that I have to return them for exchange. As for alphas, I've less often found optical issues, but they do exist, and other issues, such as with focus/diopters, or bits of stuff (fibers) falling onto the inside of the ocular and imposing themselves on the view are not uncommon in my experience.
As for alphas (including Swarovski) and optics related issues, here are some examples:
Swarovski 8x32 EL: Was slightly out of alignment the day I received it, and went way out of alignment within a few days of use (They were fixed promptly and under warranty. According to the repair note, the ocular was not properly tightened after adjustment following assembly).
Swarovski 8.5x42 EL: First unit I ordered had a defect in the armor and the right side focus became uncoupled at close distances (focused down to about 10 feet while the left side continued focusing down to 7)--returned to vendor. Second unit I ordered had a problem with the synchronization between the left and right side focus at distances around 20 feet--returned to vendor. Third pair I ordered was perfect and remains one of my favorites, though I've had to return it once to Swarovski to fix the focus drive which became extremely stiff.
Leica 8x42 Ultravid: My unit had a coating flaw on one of the objectives--when I breathed on the lens it revealed a human palm print recorded as a flawed application of the outermost coatings (Leica replaced the objective under warranty).
Zeiss 7x42 Classic: First one I ordered had a subtle flaw in the assembly of the ocular yoke which caused the ocular to be slightly canted. It didn't affect left/right alignment, but the focus didn't ever seem right across the field on either side. Returned to vendor. Second unit has had issues with focus drive and diopter equivalent shifts in left/right focus at high temps (maybe now fixed) but it is still one of my favorite bins of all time.
Bausch&Lomb 8x42 Elite (waterproof version): The optical performance of my unit seemed very poor overall (color, contrast, size of sharp sweet spot). Sent to B&L to fix some other problems (with hinge tension and crud in the view), which they fixed, but they said the optical perfomance was within spec. Immediately took back to B&L (personally, since I lived near the corporate headquarters) and talked to repair lab director. The bino was put through some kind of optical testing and deemed on the low end of the acceptable range. At the B&L lab, I was given the choice of my repaired unit, a new replacement unit of the same, or the (then newly released) 8x50 Elite model. I tried the new 8x42 unit they offered me and it was optically outstanding (difference between it and my unit of same model was like night and day with respect to contrast, sharpness, and color accuracy)! The sweet spot on the new unit was huge compared to my original unit. I kept that one. To this day, I'm still amazed at the different views of those two units--it was hard to believe they were the same binocular model. Also interesting is that the optical performance of the left and right sides of each unit were very similar (it wasn't that one side of the original unit had a gross flaw). I've since had a similar experience with two units of a non-alpha--the Eagle Optics 8x32 Ranger Platinum.
Final comment: If you spend any time in the scopes forum here at Birdforum, you'll find plenty of examples of majorly optically flawed units from Zeiss, Leica, and Pentax. Swarovski, Kowa and Nikon seem to do better, but they release for sale the occasional optical lemon as well.
--AP