[Giorgio]

Just for the fun.
They seems to be totally home made, or some chinabins reworked.
Swarovski isnt even written straight. Some bumps visible and green paint over it.
Am I wrong?
http://www.leboncoin.fr/sports_hobbi...64.htm?ca=12_s

[Simon Wates]

They do look a little rough - but the name I think is well spelt, I think light is reflecting by the final "I" making it look like another letter...?

[henry link]

I don't think these are fakes, just very well worn. The lettering panel has lost blacking in spots which makes the letters look odd.

[fugl]

I don't know, they seem genuine enough to me. I have an old battered pair of ELs that looks much the same. The "Swarovski" appears the way it does because some of the black background paint has flaked off.

[Giorgio]

Alrighty, these sites drive me kinda "paranoid" i guess lol.

[Hanno]

Agreed, they look like mine. The lettering came off very quickly and now the rubber armor is beginning to detach from the barrels (which really annoys me).

[brocknroller]

The price is what seems fake: 2,022 USD. For an old EL? Jeez, EO was paying $800 for old ELs when the SV ELs came out.

Here are some real fakes. There was a guy on eBay selling ELs in one day auctions for $500 NEW. Shipped to your door from Germany. (Germany? I guess that's where they "fell off the truck").

When you hit the "Buy it Now" button, you get a message saying to send a Western Union MO to the following address.... He must have known how to break eBay's codes, because that shouldn't happen with a Buy It Now.

I reported this to eBay, got a form letter response. He finally pulled his EL ads but a week later emerged under a new user name selling NEW Ultravids for $500. Same deal as before. Oddly, he had a 98% favorable rating as a eBay seller under that user name, but again, he must have found a way to beat the system to get that on there.

I wonder if he managed to bilk anybody?

The old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. OTOH, sometimes companies just suck.

I bought a Panasonic audiotape recorder/transcriber from a company that refurbs electronics. The transcriber arrived when I was really busy with a once a year project that doesn't involve transcribing interviews.

So I tried it out, seemed to work okay, and I left good feedback.

When I was through the with data collection project and got back to writing articles, and went to record an interview, I found that the power button wouldn't stay "ON". So I had to put something heavy on it to keep it pressed down.

The next week, the the foot pedal switch started giving me problems. Only one end of the "Play" foot switch worked. So I had to work the pedal with my heel.

I wrote the seller, told them this was not "refurbished" but frazzled, and that I wanted a unit in proper working order. No answer.

Wrote again, no answer. One more attempt and then I respond to one of the comany's ads and give them the worst rating possible and explain why. I'll also complain to eBay, though I doubt if they will do anything about it, and I didn't pay through paypal, so no recourse there.

So I'm probably stuck with paying for a refurb that wasn't refurbed.

So, yeah, on eBay, caveat emptor!

Brock

[Giorgio]

Sorry Brock for what happened to you. I guess it's not that often that the good stuff appears on this sites. Sames goes for the trustable persons.
The guy selling the old Els is writing on the announcment that they are in very good shape (TBE= Très Bon Etat=>very good shape). Fake!
I don't know why but in these french sites, there are loads of fakes/entertainers.
I saw many Nikon action vii at 150-250 euros, people trying to fake some chinese porros, etc etc...
The lonely stuff i found interesting was this
http://www.leboncoin.fr/sports_hobbies/291416772.htm
and an optolyth royal (12x56 iirc) at 250 euros. Anyway in France, everything is expensive, eve, "what is not is".

[bh46118]

Isn't one of the reasons for the high Alpha prices supposed to be superior build quality ?

Originally Posted by Hanno

Agreed, they look like mine. The lettering came off very quickly and now the rubber armor is beginning to detach from the barrels (which really annoys me).

[BrightIdea]

Originally Posted by bh46118

Isn't one of the reasons for the high Alpha prices supposed to be superior build quality ?

Wow, thats what I thought too. if I paid full price for a Swaro and the letters (or ANYTHING for that matter) started soming off, id be PO'd.

[Giorgio]

I would say yes, you pay the robustness, but more, you pay the warranty.
European employees and their european wages who truly repairs bins represent a real cost for alpha companies.
You are not paying factory chinamen with chinese wages, sorry for this rude expression, who gonna throw the damaged bins and send a new cheap produced one.
Their high price also include the numerous innovations that alpha companies do, by research, with european engineers starting projects. That is a cost.
It also includes their "savoir faire" of many years.
Plus they don't sell as many units as chinese binoculars. You have to put prices high if you want proper margins by selling few units a year.
This margin system is like comparing a Ferrari to a toyota.

[vop]

Originally Posted by Giorgio

I would say yes, you pay the robustness, but more, you pay the warranty.
European employees and their european wages who truly repairs bins represent a real cost for alpha companies.
You are not paying factory chinamen with chinese wages, sorry for this rude expression, who gonna throw the damaged bins and send a new cheap produced one.
Their high price also include the numerous innovations that alpha companies do, by research, with european engineers starting projects. That is a cost.
It also includes their "savoir faire" of many years.
Plus they don't sell as many units as chinese binoculars. You have to put prices high if you want proper margins by selling few units a year.
This margin system is like comparing a Ferrari to a toyota.

True! (But Toyota make really good cars, used to at least.)

Nice avatar by the way.

[flossiepip]

Giorgio you should never of given Ney the left flank!

[Giorgio]

Originally Posted by flossiepip

Giorgio you should never of given Ney the left flank!

Exact, plus i'm sure he stole the Swaro, which was the indirect cause of the middle guard to break.

Thank you vop, it's a home made one lol. You are right about Toyota. I should have said Lada for a proper comparison with typical chinabins.

[Kammerdiner]

Whoever owned 'em, USED 'em. For a LONG time, and a LOT. That's why they look like that. Seriously, you think that's a sign of lesser quality?? That's a sign that they hold up. I think some folks are just shocked that there are binocular users out there who do more than look at House Sparrows and telephone poles from the back porch.

I'd love to see what the average Chinese bin would look like after that much use. Maybe you'd have a pair of monoculars or something. I'll tell you this much: I've got a Swaro and a Zen, and my money would be on the Swaro for sure.

[bh46118]

I was responding to post #6.

Originally Posted by Kammerdiner

Whoever owned 'em, USED 'em. For a LONG time, and a LOT. That's why they look like that. Seriously, you think that's a sign of lesser quality?? That's a sign that they hold up. I think some folks are just shocked that there are binocular users out there who do more than look at House Sparrows and telephone poles from the back porch.

I'd love to see what the average Chinese bin would look like after that much use. Maybe you'd have a pair of monoculars or something. I'll tell you this much: I've got a Swaro and a Zen, and my money would be on the Swaro for sure.

[Kammerdiner]

From his website:

"When traveling, I do like a good feed and a cold brew, there is usually information on that as well. Keep in mind that things change though, don't come crying to me if the beer was 5 Cents more expensive than what I said it was in my report."

Sounds like a dude who knows how to use bins, yes?

Mark

[Fernando np]

These swaros look less used than mines but with the tipicals scars of the time in the old version. The green rubben suit as grow a size. The black paint has been grinded with the touch...