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Focus Wheel Slop (1 Viewer)

McCormack

Member
I briefly owned a pair of Vortex New Diamondback 12 x 50's and now own a pair of New Diamondback 10 x 32's, and both models have an eighth to a quarter inch of focus wheel slop, which I find annoying. Has anyone else experienced that much play in their New Diamondback focus wheels?
 
Hi,

welcome to BF, first of all!

Even if those are cheap chinese bins, a quarter of an inch of slack is too much. One eighth is borderline...

Joachim
 
Thanks for the welcome. :^)

Agreed, it's certainly not too much to ask that Diamondback focus wheels have a minimal amount of play in them and I don't know what Vortex is thinking by selling binoculars with that type of flaw. It's a shame because the Diamondbacks have wonderful optics at their price point and I've enjoyed looking at stuff with them.
 
Thank you for the link ceasar. I'll e-mail Vortex and see what they say about the situation, although I'm not too hopeful because if both the 12 x 50's that I had and the 10 x 32's that I presently have had slop in their focus wheels, I suspect that they're probably all that way.
 
I called Vortex today and while I was on the phone the rep tried the focus wheel on one of their demo New Diamondbacks and sure enough the wheel had some slop in it, so sloppy focus wheels are inherent to the New Diamondback line of binocs.

The rep said I should send my binoculars in and Vortex would fix them so there was no slop in the wheel, so I'll send them in next week and when I get them back I'll post back here and let you know if they tightened up the wheel or not.
 
Focuser slop like that is not acceptable in any binocular.

Thanks for pointing out the problem with that model.

There are many other choices in that price range that focus perfect.

Jerry
 
I've never been impressed with the Diamondback personally. What you see is what you get.....a cheap, $200 Chinese binocular that us usable, but relatively low quality IMO.
 
There may in fact be slop in your focus BUT...
I have a MIC Eagle Optics Denali...paid like $130 for it new. Focus adjustment is tight as a drum and very smooth.
 
Update: I was skeptical that Vortex would be able repair the focus wheel issue on my binoculars and didn't want to pay the expense of shipping them in if they couldn't be repaired, so before I shipped them I called Vortex and they assured me that they could be fixed. I shipped them in, and ten days later I got a return box from Vortex that contained not my binoculars, but instead a brand new pair of along with a note stating that the old ones couldn't be fixed.

The new binoculars have about the same amount of slop in the focus wheel as the pair that I sent in so I didn't gain anything, and I was annoyed that I had taken the time and expense to send my binoculars in after being assured that they could be fixed. I e-mailed Vortex and expressed my displeasure, and I got a return e-mail that apologized for my trouble and asked what they could do to make it right. I responded by saying they could reimburse me for my shipping expense, and the next day a box arrived containing a nice Realtree Vortex hat and a check to cover my shipping.

I'm satisfied with that, and although I wish that the focus wheel was tighter, I like everything else about my New Diamondbacks, especially the class-leading optical quality.
 
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