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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

New Zeiss Conquest HD - Focus Wheel Issue (1 Viewer)

HeadWest

Well-known member
Hi,

I just received a new pair of Conquest HD 8x42 bins from B&H Photo. I am very pleased with the optics. Beautiful! However, the focus wheel's action is kind of sticky or jerky, and it has a bit of play in either direction. This is very obvious when I compare to my Terra EDs, which have an excellent silky-smooth focus. I suppose I would expect that the Conquests would match or exceed this aspect of the Terras given the price increase.

Any ideas on what I should do? Has anyone had any luck with replacing through B&H, or getting Zeiss to fix? Ideally I wont have to wait several weeks for the fix.

Thanks for any advice.
 
Hi,

I just received a new pair of Conquest HD 8x42 bins from B&H Photo. I am very pleased with the optics. Beautiful! However, the focus wheel's action is kind of sticky or jerky, and it has a bit of play in either direction. This is very obvious when I compare to my Terra EDs, which have an excellent silky-smooth focus. I suppose I would expect that the Conquests would match or exceed this aspect of the Terras given the price increase.

Any ideas on what I should do? Has anyone had any luck with replacing through B&H, or getting Zeiss to fix? Ideally I wont have to wait several weeks for the fix.

Thanks for any advice.

I've had a few Conquest HDs. Still have a 10X42 and a 8x32. I have to say the focus adjustment has been very smooth on all of them. There really shouldn't be any "play' in the focus. If they aren't as smooth as the Terre EDs I'd probably try to send them back. Why don't you call or email B&H, explain your situation, and see if they will swap them for another pair? That's plan #1....let's see how that goes.
 
My 8x32 Conquest HD's have always had a tiny amount of play in the focuser, but it was a demo, so I figured the play came from heavy use. It never really bothered me so I just use it that way. However, the sticky/jerky focuser is more disturbing. Mine is silky smooth. I'd return it, either to B&H or to Zeiss. I've returned things to B&H, and in my experience they are pretty easy to deal with. Zeiss should also be able to take care of this problem, but I don't know what their lead time is for a Conquest HD.
 
Hi,

I just received a new pair of Conquest HD 8x42 bins from B&H Photo. I am very pleased with the optics. Beautiful! However, the focus wheel's action is kind of sticky or jerky, and it has a bit of play in either direction. This is very obvious when I compare to my Terra EDs, which have an excellent silky-smooth focus. I suppose I would expect that the Conquests would match or exceed this aspect of the Terras given the price increase.

Any ideas on what I should do? Has anyone had any luck with replacing through B&H, or getting Zeiss to fix? Ideally I wont have to wait several weeks for the fix.

Thanks for any advice.

Every Conquest I have tried including my own 8x32 has had a really smooth focus action. Yours is wrong straight out of the box so I would regard this as having been sold a product that is faulty and not fit for its purpose and would therefore reject it and send it back to the supplier and ask them to send you one that they have checked out. This is not a warranty fault that has appeared after some years, so I wouldn't think about involving Zeiss, let the supplier take that on.

Lee
 
Mine have been silky smooth for the most part. At one time, they did become somewhat jerky so I ran a piece of dental floss through the opening and around the central post - this pulled out quite a bit of crud and returned the focus to perfect once again.

Might try that. Play, however, should never be present.
 
I have a pair of the 8x42, and it is one of the smoothest focussing binoculars I own. (Great optics too!) I'd send it back.

-B.
 
Just a follow up here. B&H swapped out the faulty bins for a new pair, which arrived today. Focus wheel much better (though still not as pristinely smooth as the Terras..). Thanks for the tips everyone.
 
The optics should be much better though with the Conquest though.

A.W.

The optics are indeed much better. Excellent all around in that department. I think I'll just get used to the new focus wheel. There is just the slightest amount of "play" or slack when changing directions of the focus, which I don't like. The Conquest also requires more rotation of the focus wheel to get from close focus to infinity. In that regard, they focus less quickly than the Terras. I think I'll get used to this too.
 
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Headwest,

Keep an eye on the focus wheel, if it does not suit you send them back, (you have 30 days) after all it is a purchase with your $$$. If they send you another one with the same problem, I would look else where. I have eliminated some on-line vendors because of this.

A.W.
 
Update here just in case anyone is interested. After a couple uses, it became clear that the focus wheel on the second pair was just about as bad as the first. I wonder if it's a bad batch of the model or something. Pair that with ergonomics that don't work well for me (a lot of blackouts/kidney beaning) and I'm going to see if I can send this pair back too, and will probably go with a different make/model (probably Trinovids). Unfortunately, I don't live near any optics shops, and so have to do this all online without being able to try them out. It's too bad, because the optics on these bins are fantastic.
 
Update here just in case anyone is interested. After a couple uses, it became clear that the focus wheel on the second pair was just about as bad as the first. I wonder if it's a bad batch of the model or something. Pair that with ergonomics that don't work well for me (a lot of blackouts/kidney beaning) and I'm going to see if I can send this pair back too, and will probably go with a different make/model (probably Trinovids). Unfortunately, I don't live near any optics shops, and so have to do this all online without being able to try them out. It's too bad, because the optics on these bins are fantastic.

I have to say that's odd! I would think and hope this is just a bad lot. I've bought three, 2 42mms and one 32mm and the focus has been a non-issue for me. One of those was a gift and she has used the CRAP out of it(a naturalist). Her focus is PERFECT after over a year of very frequent use.

Don't know about returning to your retailer. They prob have a window where yes they will or no they won't. If you can, probably your best option is to do that.

Returning to Zeiss....it will take probably 2 to 3 months. So....

Since you are having blackouts/kidney beaning with the Conquest HDs....I probably wouldn't try the Trinovid HDs....they have long eye relief too and will probably have more of the same..

Why not try the Maven B.1 8X42 or B.2 9X45 in the same price range(EZ returns too!) OR go all in on a Swarovski SLC or Leica UV HD+....
 
I have to say that's odd! I would think and hope this is just a bad lot. I've bought three, 2 42mms and one 32mm and the focus has been a non-issue for me. One of those was a gift and she has used the CRAP out of it(a naturalist). Her focus is PERFECT after over a year of very frequent use.

Don't know about returning to your retailer. They prob have a window where yes they will or no they won't. If you can, probably your best option is to do that.

Returning to Zeiss....it will take probably 2 to 3 months. So....

Since you are having blackouts/kidney beaning with the Conquest HDs....I probably wouldn't try the Trinovid HDs....they have long eye relief too and will probably have more of the same..

Why not try the Maven B.1 8X42 or B.2 9X45 in the same price range(EZ returns too!) OR go all in on a Swarovski SLC or Leica UV HD+....

I agree it's odd. Especially when my own Terras have a perfect focus knob (as well as my Monarch 5s). I have to believe it's a bad lot or something. But it's definitely sticky/jerky. The retailer is willing to take them back, so I am sending them in. I've decided to give the Conquests one more go. I found out that the ER issue is a common one for these binoculars, and so Zeiss will (I've read) send me longer-extending eyecups for free. Now I just hope the focus wheel is good, and it may just work out. Buying the Conquests was the result of a reading a lot of reviews, so I'd really like them to work out.

Re: avoiding the Trinovids because they also have long ER. This is a good point, but I was thinking it more as issue of the eyecups not extending far enough than of the ER being too long.

I'd love to go all out on an SLC or UV HD+, but my wife doesn't share my opinion unfortunately.
 
I ve just received a 10X32 conquest and it has this very small amount of free play in the focus wheel...
Except that the glass is very nice, but too much black out for me (mostly due to 10 magnification i think).
 
You guys have certainly had some bad luck with the Conquest as far as I can see. I have had
several Conquests from the 10x42 to the 15x56, and the focusers on all 4 have been as smooth
as silk with no backlash.

I suppose we can ring this up to being an outlier, a lemon type of thing.

There have been very few complaints on this forum, if any.

I am fussy about focusers, any slack is a big problem to me.

Certainly less focuser complaints than some of the alpha models.

Jerry
 
You are probably right, it could be a bad batch. The question is, how many to go through before trying another vendor.

A.W.
 
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