Faulty Swarovski binoculars. (1 Viewer)

john.roberts · Dec 17, 2017

After having nothing but trouble with my 18-month-old Swarovski 8.5x42 EL and returning them back to the factory in Austria 3 times in under two years.Twice for a jammed focus wheel and the other for faulty zoom focusing.They've actually spent 12 weeks in transit to Austria in that 18 months i've owned them. I've finally got rid of the most troublesome pair of binoculars I've ever owned.I think my pair was a late Friday afternoon assembled pair.I know there a top brand and make good optics but my binoculars let me down so many times they had to go after spending a lot of money on top of the range pair of binoculars i've never been so disappointed.So now I've got a new pair or Leica noctivids 8x42 and there brilliant.

jan van daalen · Dec 17, 2017

john.roberts said:
After having nothing but trouble with my 18-month-old Swarovski 8.5x42 EL and returning them back to the factory in Austria 3 times in under two years.Twice for a jammed focus wheel and the other for faulty zoom focusing.They've actually spent 12 weeks in transit to Austria in that 18 months i've owned them. I've finally got rid of the most troublesome pair of binoculars I've ever owned.I think my pair was a late Friday afternoon assembled pair.I know there a top brand and make good optics but my binoculars let me down so many times they had to go after spending a lot of money on top of the range pair of binoculars i've never been so disappointed.So now I've got a new pair or Leica noctivids 8x42 and there brilliant.

Hi John,

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences and congrets with the Nocti.
Together with the SF they are The Three Musketeers

I wonder, what did you do with that EL?

Jan

ticl2184 · Dec 17, 2017

Swarovski binoculars are simply the best on the market in my opinion. ....I've only had to send a pair back twice in 10 years ...They sent me a new pair on the second occasion ...No argument. ...Can't praise Swarovski enough....

I wonder what the hell happened to yours ....I don't doubt you ...It just doesn't sound like Swarovski customer service to me....

Cheers Tim

Jabberwocky · Dec 17, 2017

Good luck with the Leicas, if they need repair be prepared to wait at least twice as long for the repair.

Lewis

john.roberts · Dec 17, 2017

jan van daalen said:
Hi John,

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences and congrets with the Nocti.
Together with the SF they are The Three Musketeers

I wonder, what did you do with that EL?

Jan

I Part exchanged them.

john.roberts · Dec 17, 2017

ticl2184 said:
Swarovski binoculars are simply the best on the market in my opinion. ....I've only had to send a pair back twice in 10 years ...They sent me a new pair on the second occasion ...No argument. ...Can't praise Swarovski enough....

I wonder what the hell happened to yours ....I don't doubt you ...It just doesn't sound like Swarovski customer service to me....

Cheers Tim

Hi Tim.I never once had any trouble getting them repaired but when I did ask them to exchange them they said they do repairs free of charge but don't exchange them.I was just fed up with all the trouble with them in the end and all the hassle and cost of sending them back to the uk branch then they would send them to Austria.

ticl2184 · Dec 17, 2017

Do you like the Noctivids better John...

Torview · Dec 17, 2017

Hi John, I guess even at the top tier a lemon gets made every once in a while, glad you are pleased with the NV, out of curiosity what do you mean by zoom focusing ?

john.roberts · Dec 17, 2017

Torview said:
Hi John, I guess even at the top tier a lemon gets made every once in a while, glad you are pleased with the NV, out of curiosity what do you mean by zoom focusing?

Focus wheel wasn't working the first time then it jammed twice.I did say it was a dam one-off pair I called it late Friday afternoon assembly.

john.roberts · Dec 17, 2017

ticl2184 said:
Do you like the Noctivids better John...

Really pleased with the Leica Noctivids for short time I've owned them.I don't like slagging off optic company's I even told Swarovski that my pair was one off pair.

james holdsworth · Dec 18, 2017

ticl2184 said:
Swarovski binoculars are simply the best on the market in my opinion. ....I've only had to send a pair back twice in 10 years
Cheers Tim

Hardly a ringing endorsement. Bins at this level should last a lifetime without problems. They are, after all, very simple devices with very few parts to fail. If any of my 'alpha' level bins need to go in for service, I'll be pretty displeased.

denco@comcast.n · Dec 18, 2017

james holdsworth said:
Hardly a ringing endorsement. Bins at this level should last a lifetime without problems. They are, after all, very simple devices with very few parts to fail. If any of my 'alpha' level bins need to go in for service, I'll be pretty displeased.

Many members on Bird Forum have had some kind of trouble even with their alpha-level binoculars. Not even Zeiss, Swarovski, Leica or Nikon are immune from problems. Zeiss has had their fair share of problems with poor eye cups and staining armour and Swarovski has had sticky focuser complaints while Leica has had water leaks and Nikon even with their top binocular the EDG had had diopter problems. Nobody puts out perfect binoculars all the time but I have had a lot of binoculars and even though not all have been perfect I would agree with ticl2184 and say overall I think Swarovski makes very fine binoculars especially if optics are important to you and in my experience has some of the best service and support.

ticl2184 · Dec 18, 2017

James Holdsworth. ...

It is a ringing endorsement for Swarovski actually .....I've owned Zeiss, Leica and Nikon Alphas...
Zeiss were the worst ...Must have sent them back about 9 times ...Leica were second about 6 times closely followed by Nikon...

I've owned several Swarovski binoculars and scopes over a 15 year period....In that time I've only had to send one pair back twice ...And that was for a minor optical issue that the majority wouldn't notice, let alone send back if they did....

Can't praise Swarovski highly enough ..

Cheers Tim

jan van daalen · Dec 18, 2017

john.roberts said:
I Part exchanged them.

John,

This, not being my native language, I don't understand.
You mean you traded it in to get the Nocti?

Jan (Dutch for John

john.roberts · Dec 18, 2017

jan van daalen said:
John,

This, not being my native language, I don't understand.
You mean you traded it in to get the Nocti?

Jan (Dutch for John

Hi Jan.Yes, I traded them in for Noctivids and I did tell the dealer that they had just come back from being repaired by Swarovski.

james holdsworth · Dec 18, 2017

ticl2184 said:
James Holdsworth. ...

It is a ringing endorsement for Swarovski actually .....I've owned Zeiss, Leica and Nikon Alphas...
Zeiss were the worst ...Must have sent them back about 9 times ...Leica were second about 6 times closely followed by Nikon...

I've owned several Swarovski binoculars and scopes over a 15 year period....In that time I've only had to send one pair back twice ...And that was for a minor optical issue that the majority wouldn't notice, let alone send back if they did....

Can't praise Swarovski highly enough ..

Cheers Tim

I guess I have been lucky - my alphas [Elites for 10 years] then Zeiss have all been faultless.

I stand by what I said - at this price-point, sending bins back twice in 10 years is not top quality. I've had ''sub'' alpha problems [Conquests] and have been vocal about that. If my HT's crap out, for sure you will hear about it and not in a fawning manner.

ticl2184 · Dec 18, 2017

James Holdsworth. ..

It's not fawning ....It's fact ....
And if you think your never going to have to get a pair of Alphas serviced you should move LA....They'd love you there ...They live in a dream world as well..

Cheers Tim

Troubador · Dec 18, 2017

james holdsworth said:
I guess I have been lucky - my alphas [Elites for 10 years] then Zeiss have all been faultless.

I stand by what I said - at this price-point, sending bins back twice in 10 years is not top quality. I've had ''sub'' alpha problems [Conquests] and have been vocal about that. If my HT's crap out, for sure you will hear about it and not in a fawning manner.

ticl2184 said:
James Holdsworth. ..

It's not fawning ....It's fact ....
And if you think your never going to have to get a pair of Alphas serviced you should move LA....They'd love you there ...They live in a dream world as well..

Cheers Tim

Gentlemen
We are all prisoners of our own experience to some extent and sometimes it can be difficult to relate to someone else's experience and how that fits with their expectations if different from our own.

Lee

james holdsworth · Dec 18, 2017

ticl2184 said:
James Holdsworth. ..

It's not fawning ....It's fact ....
And if you think your never going to have to get a pair of Alphas serviced you should move LA....They'd love you there ...They live in a dream world as well..

Cheers Tim

I've got four pair of Classic Zeiss and a Design Selection and Oberkocken - these range in age from 18 to 40 + years. All are perfect / faultless and are still used regularly. I expect them to remain so for years to come.

Like I said, if my HT craps out, I'll be very displeased with the company as well as the durability / reliably of the product. Alpha bins should be engineered for a lifetime of reliable use. Maybe thats just me though......I just don't want the hassle of shipping my bins to Germany, waiting for weeks or months and then [possibly] having them come back damaged or even unfixed - like the stories posted here for all makes.

Seriously though, this is not rocket science and the mechanics of a binocular are not that complicated nor should they be failure prone - we have sealed glass tubes and a focus mechanism - if they can't make that last then they are under-engineered. IMO.

We should focus on the thread topic - which is another Swaro focus problem. It is just not on to think that Swaro didn't completely screw the pooch on the SV focusers - there are a great many complaints on this forum alone.

ticl2184 · Dec 19, 2017

I love the way Lee intervenes on these occasion's when members disagree ....Like some all wise all knowing binocular guru...
Not being funny Lee....But James Holdsworth and I are quite capable of discussing this matter without arbitration....
I actually agree with James....At this level the binoculars should be faultless. ..If Swarovski can't fix a problem they should replace it....But anything with moving parts will eventually need servicing at some point even a Alpha bin....

Cheers Tim

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