EL 8x32 SV: the story continues (1 Viewer)

Six Point Five said:

Yes, maybe just seven weeks or so.

Why is everyone so impatient and fixated on instant gratification?
Good things take time to do well. It's a very fine instrument we are talking about, not a milk shake at Dairy Queen.

I've just closely inspected one of those McMansions that cost $1/2 million and took only 2 or 3 months to build. I am glad i don't have to live in it.

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Kammerdiner said:

Did your SV go back to Austria??

Mark

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Six Point Five said:

"The focus wheel takes twice the effort to turn counterclockwise as it does to turn clockwise."

After i posted the above, i tried to love the EL 8x32 SV again. I took them on a 3 day trip. That was a mistake. I realized that the focusing mechanism made popping and screeching noises and that the focusing elements in the right barrel were occasionally sticking (not moving) and popping. I did not miss observing birds but i was annoyed.
I called SONA and told them about this. Two months later i received my binoculars back. They have now an outstandingly smooth and precise focus, a pleasure to use. This made a world of difference. Customer service and quality of repair were fantastic. Many thanks to whoever did this up there in Absam.

Now i have an EL 8x32 SV with the great ergonomics of older EL, but with improved optics. I get the sharp and bright image of the Zeiss FL, in an ergonomically nicer package with smooth focus and a wide flat field. I can understand now what all the fuss was about this model.
I think that i will get used to the rather unusual field distortion apparent when scanning left and right. These new SV may become my favorites.

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Six Point Five said:

I don't know, i assumed so.

Regardless, they did a fantatsic job on the focuser. I whish i had sent the binoculars in well before my 4 week, 250 species (about) birding trip to Arizona and New Mexico this spring.
I saw the Elegant Trogon and the Red-faced Warbler, among many others, with the old EL 8x32. Not too shabby.
I think that i finally saw every single flycatcher in USA, but for some of them i am not sure which was which, as they were quiet. You know, Empidonax spp. leave you wondering until you hear them. It was fun with the old EL just as well, the new EL would have not contributed all that much, and i don't care about a bird list anyway.

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brocknroller said:

How many Swaro bins have to be returned until they get it?Brock

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brocknroller said:

The point is for an "alpha" one should expect the focuser to work properly right out of the box and not have to return it to be fixed. Nikon can do it, Leica can do it, Zeiss can do it, why not Swaro?

That's the only question that needs to be answered. The rest is bunkum.

Brock

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elkcub said:

To my experience there is nothing wrong with Swaro's focusers. As an example, my 8x42 SLC-HD took a little breaking in to get past some initial squeaks, but now it's smooth as butter, with perfect stiction to hold a position. And it's been that way for two years of use.

As for being harder to turn in one direction than the other, I find it curious that every Porro I own requires more effort to move the bridge out than in. This is also the case with the 7x42 B/GAT*P ... but do we hear the unremitting critic of Swaro focusers say a word about that?

I don't know the innards of Swaro's mechanical design, but a spring is often used as part of an anti-backlash mechanism so that the user doesn't experience an annoying "dead band." The observation that there is a single spring in the mechanism, therefore, simply does not justify the never-ending accusation that it's the cause of a problem. Poppycock!

Swaro should get credit where it's due, and their focuser and integrated diopter is certainly a beautiful and precise mechanism that's a joy to use. :clap:

Ed

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elkcub said:

Rhetorical questions can't be answered.

Ed

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brocknroller said:

It's only "rhetorical" because Swaro refuses to address it. There is an answer. And if people keep asking the question instead of denying the issue exists because of misplaced brand loyalty or because they got lucky and got a good focuser on their sample and mistakenly think their experience is typical, despite all the evidence to the contrary, perhaps the question will eventually be answered and the focuser issues will be resolved.

I think it depends a lot on birders who do a lot more focusing than hunters. The more birders buy Swaros and become a larger market segment, and the more who complain about on these forums and to Swaro directly about focuser issues, and the more returns Swaro gets, the more likely they are to finally do what they should have done a decade ago, redesign their focusers so they are consistently smooth out of the box and so that they stay that way for years.

To be clear, I'm not a Swaro basher, I'm a Swaro fan. Swarovski is my second favorite brand next to Nikon. They make excellent products, albeit, IMO, overpriced, but with a "fatal flaw," which is their focusers. Not all are bad, of course, as you and others have noted. But that doesn't mean that yours or others' samples will stay that way either, as the 2001 EL that started out focusing fairly smoothly but got progressively harder to turn to the point where eight years later proved. It took two fingers to turn in one direction, and the other direction, while easier to turn was still stiff compared to most binoculars I've owned or tried at all price points.

The evidence that Swaro focusers are "hit or miss" when it comes to being smooth, is overwhelming at this point. Recently in a BF review, one member noted how the tried two 8x42 SLC-HD and one had a stiff focuser and the other was smooth (the stiff one also leaked water inside).

I'm hoping by the time I can afford a Swaro, the "squeaky wheel" will have gotten greased, thanks to my efforts and that of others who aren't afraid to take flak from fanboys because they, too, like Swaros, and know that the company can do better, and for the price they charge, should do better.

End of Sunday sermon.

Brock

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brocknroller said:

It's only "rhetorical" because Swaro refuses to address it. There is an answer. And if people keep asking the question instead of denying the issue exists because of misplaced brand loyalty or because they got lucky and got a good focuser on their sample and mistakenly think their experience is typical, despite all the evidence to the contrary, perhaps the question will eventually be answered and the focuser issues will be resolved.

I think it depends a lot on birders who do a lot more focusing than hunters. The more birders buy Swaros and become a larger market segment, and the more who complain about on these forums and to Swaro directly about focuser issues, and the more returns Swaro gets, the more likely they are to finally do what they should have done a decade ago, redesign their focusers so they are consistently smooth out of the box and so that they stay that way for years.

To be clear, I'm not a Swaro basher, I'm a Swaro fan. Swarovski is my second favorite brand next to Nikon. They make excellent products, albeit, IMO, overpriced, but with a "fatal flaw," which is their focusers. Not all are bad, of course, as you and others have noted. But that doesn't mean that yours or others' samples will stay that way either, as the 2001 EL that started out focusing fairly smoothly but got progressively harder to turn to the point where eight years later proved. It took two fingers to turn in one direction, and the other direction, while easier to turn was still stiff compared to most binoculars I've owned or tried at all price points.

The evidence that Swaro focusers are "hit or miss" when it comes to being smooth, is overwhelming at this point. Recently in a BF review, one member noted how the tried two 8x42 SLC-HD and one had a stiff focuser and the other was smooth (the stiff one also leaked water inside).

I'm hoping by the time I can afford a Swaro, the "squeaky wheel" will have gotten greased, thanks to my efforts and that of others who aren't afraid to take flak from fanboys because they, too, like Swaros, and know that the company can do better, and for the price they charge, should do better.

End of Sunday sermon.

Brock

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Six Point Five said:

"The focus wheel takes twice the effort to turn counterclockwise as it does to turn clockwise."

After i posted the above, i tried to love the EL 8x32 SV again. I took them on a 3 day trip. That was a mistake. I realized that the focusing mechanism made popping and screeching noises and that the focusing elements in the right barrel were occasionally sticking (not moving) and popping. I did not miss observing birds but i was annoyed.
I called SONA and told them about this. Two months later i received my binoculars back. They have now an outstandingly smooth and precise focus, a pleasure to use. This made a world of difference. Customer service and quality of repair were fantastic. Many thanks to whoever did this up there in Absam.

Now i have an EL 8x32 SV with the great ergonomics of older EL, but with improved optics. I get the sharp and bright image of the Zeiss FL, in an ergonomically nicer package with smooth focus and a wide flat field. I can understand now what all the fuss was about this model.
I think that i will get used to the rather unusual field distortion apparent when scanning left and right. These new SV may become my favorites.

Click to expand...

brocknroller said:

It's only "rhetorical" because Swaro refuses to address it. There is an answer. And if people keep asking the question instead of denying the issue exists because of misplaced brand loyalty or because they got lucky and got a good focuser on their sample and mistakenly think their experience is typical, despite all the evidence to the contrary, perhaps the question will eventually be answered and the focuser issues will be resolved.

I think it depends a lot on birders who do a lot more focusing than hunters. The more birders buy Swaros and become a larger market segment, and the more who complain about on these forums and to Swaro directly about focuser issues, and the more returns Swaro gets, the more likely they are to finally do what they should have done a decade ago, redesign their focusers so they are consistently smooth out of the box and so that they stay that way for years.

To be clear, I'm not a Swaro basher, I'm a Swaro fan. Swarovski is my second favorite brand next to Nikon. They make excellent products, albeit, IMO, overpriced, but with a "fatal flaw," which is their focusers. Not all are bad, of course, as you and others have noted. But that doesn't mean that yours or others' samples will stay that way either, as the 2001 EL that started out focusing fairly smoothly but got progressively harder to turn to the point where eight years later proved. It took two fingers to turn in one direction, and the other direction, while easier to turn was still stiff compared to most binoculars I've owned or tried at all price points.

The evidence that Swaro focusers are "hit or miss" when it comes to being smooth, is overwhelming at this point. Recently in a BF review, one member noted how the tried two 8x42 SLC-HD and one had a stiff focuser and the other was smooth (the stiff one also leaked water inside).

I'm hoping by the time I can afford a Swaro, the "squeaky wheel" will have gotten greased, thanks to my efforts and that of others who aren't afraid to take flak from fanboys because they, too, like Swaros, and know that the company can do better, and for the price they charge, should do better.

End of Sunday sermon.

Brock

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[email protected] said:

The SV 8x32 is the "Best Birding Binocular" in the world.

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