Sticky focussing Ultravids. (1 Viewer)

Jay23 · Oct 5, 2005

My beloved 10x42 BRs have suddenly developed a horrid, irritating, sticky, juddery focus wheel. Whilst it in no way interupts my birding it is a real drag. They were smooth as velvet when I got them a few months ago and I cannot bear to be parted from them - I assume that the good people at Leica UK would sort them out for me but I use them almost every day.....
Will this problem go away with time? If I wind the focus back and forward rapidly for 30 seconds, it seems to smooth out for a while, but unfortunately comes back after a few minutes. I'm very tempted to put a drop of three in one oil on the axle but suppose that this is A Bad Thing to do?

Any experience of this and specifically - remedies?

Chris

Otto McDiesel · Oct 5, 2005

ChrisSearle said:
My beloved 10x42 BRs have suddenly developed a horrid, irritating, sticky, juddery focus wheel. Whilst it in no way interupts my birding it is a real drag. They were smooth as velvet when I got them a few months ago and I cannot bear to be parted from them - I assume that the good people at Leica UK would sort them out for me but I use them almost every day.....
Will this problem go away with time? If I wind the focus back and forward rapidly for 30 seconds, it seems to smooth out for a while, but unfortunately comes back after a few minutes. I'm very tempted to put a drop of three in one oil on the axle but suppose that this is A Bad Thing to do?

Any experience of this and specifically - remedies?

Chris

Chris,
Don't put oil on the axle, because there probably are seals there for waterproofing the binoculars, the oil will not get where you want it, you may damage the binoculars, and this may void the warranty.
You will have to part with them for a while and send them back to Leica for repairs.

John N · Oct 5, 2005

At this very moment Leica UK have my 10x42 Ultravids in for the very same problem. Leica say they will rectify this and return them ASAP. They have had them for 3 weeks so far. Will let you know when I get them back. Good luck with yours. John.

Renze de Vries · Oct 5, 2005

Chris,

Don't expect the focus wheel to smoothen out with prolonged use. Mine certainly didn't. It's a drag really but you have to give them in for service. Consolitary note: I had them serviced twice, but now they are absolutely perfect. So the Leica people can do it, trust them.

Renze de Vries

dogfish · Oct 5, 2005

Looks to me like the Ultravid's focusing mechanism should be redesigned. Many of the Ultravids I've picked up to try at Birdfairs have had rough focusing mechanisms. My own pair have been with Leica since August 20.

Sean

Robert Ellis · Oct 5, 2005

dogfish said:
Looks to me like the Ultravid's focusing mechanism should be redesigned. Many of the Ultravids I've picked up to try at Birdfairs have had rough focusing mechanisms. My own pair have been with Leica since August 20.

Sean

At least the knob stays on and the company fixes it for you. (ahem, FL)

dogfish · Oct 6, 2005

Robert Ellis said:
At least the knob stays on and the company fixes it for you. (ahem, FL)

I'm always reassured when my knob stays on.
Leica and Zeiss both fix the focusing for you eventually (I got my Ultravids back today after about seven weeks) but we shouldn't have to go through this tedious process with binoculars costing well over £800. I'll think about buying Nikon next time; seem to be fewer complaints (if any) about the focusing mechanism on the HGLs.

Sean

John N · Oct 21, 2005

My 10x42 Ultravids came back from Leica today,they were sent to leica with a very notchy focus wheel. They are now as smooth as silk and I would not swap them for anything else. I am now a very happy leica owner.

Bubbs · Oct 21, 2005

The Nikon HG's 8x32 I bought at the offer price has Rolls Royce focusing; so smooth and lightning fast.

My 25 year old Zeiss were always stiff in cold weather, even fron new. I returned them to Zeiss under warranty and that cured the problem..for a while!. They then became stiff again and I could not be bothered in returning them to Zeiss for another six week wait.

I put a couple of drops of WD40 on the wheel (where it meets the body) and I have never had any trouble since, and that was 10 years ago!!

I would not advise anyone to do this but these loved bins were old... but hey, it worked.

I don't think I would do that on a pair of £800+ Ultravids tho.

JB.

Bubbs · Oct 21, 2005

John N said:
My 10x42 Ultravids came back from Leica today,they were sent to leica with a very notchy focus wheel. They are now as smooth as silk and I would not swap them for anything else. I am now a very happy leica owner.

John, It would be interesting to know why the focusing became 'notchy' in the first place. It sounds like a lubrication problem but I could be wrong.

JB.

John N · Oct 21, 2005

john barclay said:
John, It would be interesting to know why the focusing became 'notchy' in the first place. It sounds like a lubrication problem but I could be wrong.

JB.

Hi John.I believe it is a lubrication problem but I don't know the details.There was no explanation when the binoculars were returned.

Sticky focussing Ultravids. (1 Viewer)

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