Service of out-of-warranty Leica Trinovid 10x42 BA (1009xxx) (3 Viewers)

[geastrum]

geastrum,

Nice glass. I would contact Leica for a rain guard, they will provide you one I am sure.

I asked if they still had the original rain guard. They responded saying that they had it and asked me to confirm my adress, so I believe they will send me one free of charge. Nice.

 

[brocknroller]

I asked if they still had the original rain guard. They responded saying that they had it and asked me to confirm my adress, so I believe they will send me one free of charge. Nice.

You should let them know that you are sharing your good service experience on Birdforum, which thousands of birders read on both sides of the pond. That might spur them to be consistent. For every good story I've read, I've also read one where the Leica owner got charged and arm and a leg for repairs. Of course, some repairs are more serious than others, but some were no worse than yours. So, either Leica has changed its repair policy to better complete with Swarovski or it's hit and miss depending on the repair team.

That's how it is with Nikon. One SE owner whose SE EPs had balsam separation (which can't be fixed), so they sent him an 8x30 HG as a replacement, another whose SEs had the same problem, they said they couldn't find anything wrong with the SE, and sent it back without replacement! Doh.

Swarovski's generous repair policy for out of warranty bins got me to fork over 1200 shackles for a pre-SV 2010 8x32 EL. After looking through it, and seeing that it was sharp to 90% from center, I had to wonder why Swaro would alienate 30% of potential customers by making such low distortion that they would see "rolling ball" for that extra 10% sharpness (minus the blurry "Absam Ring"). The focuser, like all Swaro focusers I've tried, turned fast in one direction and harder and sticky in the other, but they might have been able to improve it, though not make it turn smoothly in both directions since it's greaseless, but they couldn't repair the flare problem, which was a design flaw. So I sent them back to the seller. Too bad, the optics were otherwise great and the ergonomics the best of any roof I've used. Small wonder why they discontinued the 8x32 EL while continuing to make the others.

Brock

 

[SAMyMAS]

I recently picked up a pair of Trinovid 10x42 BA. Very heavily used. Both eyecups were broken and taped in place, and the focus wheel was a bit stiff at near and far focus. But the optics were exquisite, and I've always loved this model.

As I had read on here about Leica's recent shift towards a more generous warranty policy toward binoculars bought second hand, I was curious to see if there was any chance this could be fixed under warranty. Unfortunately, the serial number turned out to be 1009xxx, which dates it to 1990 and 32 years of age, making it just a little bit too old. But the price was extremely good (€240), so I am definitely happy to spend a bit on fixing them. They were actually totally usable, but I'm guessing that this is as good time as any to get them fixed and ready for 30 more years of heavy use.

After a brief exchange of emails with Leica, the binoculars are now on their way to Portugal. I'm really curious to see what they will suggest, and I'll report back here what the outcome will be.

Sadly I forgot to take "before photos", so this is all I have:

Hello There,

I am considering to buy used Leica too. Can you advise me how to know its date of manufacture by serial number, please.

Thanks