Servicing a 773 and eyepiece? (1 Viewer)

[rb_stern]

I have had a Kowa 773 and 25-60x eyepiece for years. It has had its fair share of falls and knocks, but still works well. Over the last year or so the overall view has got a bit dark, and there are brownish "floaters" particularly at magnifications of 40x and over. Is it worth sending it off for a service, which would likely involve taking it apart and cleaning the insides of the scope and/ or eyepiece? (I live in Canada and the N.American Kowa service centre is in Torrance, California). Thanks in advance.

 

[Jeff51]

i haven't needed servicing, but kowa north america was very responsive and helpful when during the time of supply chain disruptions i wanted to lay in a supply of small parts for my three pair of genesis binoculars and 883 scope. you might write them for advice, once the holiday period is over. my guess is you'll get a helpful reply. jeff in dc

 

[dipped]

I have had a Kowa 773 and 25-60x eyepiece for years. It has had its fair share of falls and knocks, but still works well. Over the last year or so the overall view has got a bit dark, and there are brownish "floaters" particularly at magnifications of 40x and over. Is it worth sending it off for a service, which would likely involve taking it apart and cleaning the insides of the scope and/ or eyepiece? (I live in Canada and the N.American Kowa service centre is in Torrance, California). Thanks in advance.

Hi Richard

Have you tried looking through the eyepiece alone, back to front against a white card/paper to see if there are any internal specks? Also is the cover glass in the eyepiece end of the scope clean? The scope body should be internally clean but the eyepieces were known for internal specks in earlier production samples.

 

[b_reynolds_ak]

Richard,
I had a great experience with the service center in Torrence when I sent my TSN-77 in for servicing and cleaning. They took apart my eyepiece, cleaned and re pressurized. I had to pay for shipping to them, but the service and return shipping was covered by Kowa. They are a little hard to get ahold of, but you will be treated well by them.

 

[Peregrine Took]

Hope nobody minds me chipping in - because with no geographical reference in the thread title, UK birders might also read it.

In the UK, Viking Optical is the Kowa service agent. I just used them for greasing the focus mechanism on my 773 and they were excellent... nice people to deal with, reasonably priced and they completed the work ahead of schedule.

They also managed to source minor parts (objective cover/lens cap and a flap for the stay-on case) that, as far as I could tell from my searches, were only available from outside the UK (and at a higher price).
.