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Leica Noctivid problems (1 Viewer)

R

Russ Bart

Member
United Kingdom
Dear all.
I have a pair of Leica Noctivid which are now 2 years old. They have been with Leica for approx 6 months in total owing to a problem where they jam at each end of the focus range. Sometimes just picking them up they are jammed. Leica state it is my fault as I go to the end of the range too forcefully?? My last pair of Zeiss nightowls are still faultless after 26 years. I cannot recommend Leica as I have fallen out of love with them. All they needed to do was repair properly or exchange them.
Russ Bart
Birder and photographer for 54 years.
 
lmans66 said:
Sorry to hear Russ....sounds like you have a 'bummed' pair. I know my pair of Noctivids are flawless. Good luck with yours
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Mine as well. Same with three others I observe with. Sounds like a bad apple. Also 6 months sounds crazy, could be a parts issue. Lately 8-10 weeks is turnaround here in the states. Sometimes if they can’t get the parts of the binoculars are under a year old they replace them , but I guess that doesn’t apply here for Russ.
 
"go to the end of the range" too forcefully? That doesn't make any sense. One doesn't hit the ends of the range while birding, right? I never do.

6 months is a long wait, I hope you have some other binoculars to use in the meantime.
 
It's often difficult to comment in such instances in any worthwhile way, as we don't always know the full story (like the gent who complained about Zeiss quoting him $1,400 for repairs to a 7x42 FL that turned out to have very serious structural damage).

The big sticking point (excuse the pun) is going to be whether the focus sticking was a manufacturing issue or because of overly hard use. I hardly ever go to the end of the focus range myself, even when not using glasses, but there's no doubt that some users are very hard on their gear. The more commonly reported the problem is (eg. Swarovski armour breaking down), the easier it will be to convince the manufacturer to put it right on their own account (and vice versa). This is probably the first time such an issue has been reported with a Noctivid here on Birdforum, despite folks who have issues with their binoculars not exactly being hesitant to bang on about it on the internet, so...

The first and best port of call would have been the dealer you purchased it from. If you have bought a fair amount of kit from them you will probably have a good enough relationship with them that they'll know, or at least have reason to believe, you aren't overly harsh on your gear. If you bought it secondhand, Leica don't know you from Adam - and since the discretion to foot the bill for repairs is theirs...

Good luck with the repair - and hopefully your new Swaro or Zeiss won't have, or develop, their own individual issues...
 
Interestingly, I just sent in a pair of 8x42 Noctivids with a similar, but not identical, problem. I won them in an eBay auction at the end of August. The seller indicated in the description that they'd recently been sent to Leica service, and had a test certificate from Leica indicating they were in working order. Before bidding I asked the seller why they'd been sent in, and he said it was due to a diopter issue. I decided to go ahead with bidding on the strength of that certificate (coupled with the fine things I've read about Leica service over the two years or so that I've been lurking on this forum)

At any rate, the NVs arrived and were spectacular. A noticeable step up from the 2004 Ultravid HDs I'd purchased on eBay a couple of years ago. Then a couple of weeks ago I was having some trouble resolving an image, and noticed that the diopter had apparently slipped. I.e., it wasn't where I'd set it. So I reset it, and all was fine for a while, until it slipped again while focusing.

Since I knew where my setting was supposed to be, it wasn't a big issue for me to simply reset. But unfortunately, the slips became more and more frequent. Then finally last week I was moving the wheel back and forth in the hopes of perhaps noticing exactly when the slips happened, when a section of a washer came into view near the center of the diopter window and the focus wheel jammed.

I Sent them to Leica in Teaneck, NJ a week ago today, and received notification yesterday that they've been logged in but no diagnosis has been made yet.

My hope is that even if the warranty doesn't transfer to me because I didn't buy then from an authorized dealer, Leica will stand behind the certification they issued three months ago. We'll see.
 
Sorry to hear about these Noctivid problems, and surprised too as mine have been flawless and they have an excellent reputation - probably better than any other? The one that keeps going back and forth and never gets fixed must have been very annoying.
 
More Major Update: My Noctivids were returned to me this morning! From the receipt that accompanied them, I see that they were sent to Germany for repair. It's quite possible they've been re-armored, but I can't be certain because there's no itemization of what was done. They were quite clean when I sent them in, but the armor looks and feels cleaner and newer.

And as if on cue, a flock of cedar waxwings showed up in our front garden for the first time this winter a short ago, providing me with an instant opportunity to be reminded of just how crisp, clear and beautiful the view is through these binoculars.
 
My experience with Leica warranty / repair issues has been truly awesome. I've only ever experienced excellent customer service. One outstanding experience was when they simply replaced an 8x32 BN Trinovid with an 8x32 Ultravid HD after about 15 years (from memory) of the BN in my ownership. The BN had developed a mechanical focusing fault that they couldn't repair.

I've never had a poor Leica customer service experience, but then I'm very careful with my optics and have only ever approached the company in cases where a product has genuinely failed due to faulty parts or workmanship.
 
PYRTLE said:
No update from the OP as yet. Just post and disappear.
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I'd guess that either he still hasn't got them back yet, or has totally lost patience with having to send them in three times. Or both. Leica and Swarovski service have both been excellent for me, but I'm sure they still disappoint occasionally. As Zeiss did the one time I tried them.

crinklystarfish said:
The BN had developed a mechanical focusing fault that they couldn't repair.
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Could you describe it? I still love my BN so it worries me that this could already happen, five or more years ago.
 
tenex said:
I'd guess that either he still hasn't got them back yet, or has totally lost patience with having to send them in three times.
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Where is that piece of information ( returned 3 times ) from exactly? Would still have thought some sort of update might be forthcoming after one month......you just don't scrap £2000+ worth of optics after only 18 months of use unless they were damaged and uninsured.
 
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tenex said:
I'd guess that either he still hasn't got them back yet, or has totally lost patience with having to send them in three times. Or both. Leica and Swarovski service have both been excellent for me, but I'm sure they still disappoint occasionally. As Zeiss did the one time I tried them.


Could you describe it? I still love my BN so it worries me that this could already happen, five or more years ago.
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Yes, without any obvious reason it developed an issue where it would no longer focus to 'infinity'. A few hundred metres was about as far as it would go before meeting the end of focus-wheel travel. I never dropped it or heard / felt anything obviously distressed, it just simply stopped working.

Leica never offered an explanation, they just said they couldn't repair it and asked if I'd accept the Ultravid as a replacement.

FWIW I preferred the BN and sold the Ultravid within a few months. It wasn't a bad bin, it just felt somehow soulless in comparison and I'd started to favour 10x as my all-rounder anyway.
 
PYRTLE said:
No update from the OP as yet. Just post and
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tenex said:
I'd guess that either he still hasn't got them back yet, or has totally lost patience with having to send them in three times. Or both. Leica and Swarovski service have both been excellent for me, but I'm sure they still disappoint occasionally. As Zeiss did the one time I tried them.


Could you describe it? I still love my BN so it worries me that this could already happen, five or more years ago.
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Or he got them back and didn’t deem worth his while to come back here to let us know. It’s kind of suspicious how he posted once and never returned.
 
John M Robinson said:
Or he got them back and didn’t deem worth his while to come back here to let us know. It’s kind of suspicious how he posted once and never returned.
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Unfortunately this does happen quite often, a quick initial post to grumble then scoot off if they don't receive the support they seek or as you suggest the matter was resolved. Unfair sometimes, still,waiting for a similar thread update elsewhere.
 

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