Mouldy discovery, what to do? (1 Viewer)

Dafi

Link to Opticrons website for V1 Mk II
Specs are: Rainwaterproof and Comprehensive 30year warranty. I believe the warranty is on the scope and is transferable.

http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/es_v1_scope.htm

I have the same model, attached is a pic of my guarantee card.
The scope was introduced ( I believe ) in 2001 so is probably within the 10 years.

HTH

Hi Dafi

I spoke to the service department to try to ascertain what it was you'd been told.

As far as I can tell it appears you may have been given incorrect info regarding the warranty cover. I've asked to be notified of the status of the scope when it arrives and has been inspected so will post back to let you and the others here know the outcome.

I'm sorry that you felt your call was handled in a rather perfunctory manner. I have made the service team aware of that and I can only pass on their and my apologies.

Alan is correct - the warranty is with the scope, not the owner and so is transferrable.

Cheers, Pete

Thanks very much Allan but i dont even have the original card.

Thanks as well to you pete, its very kind of you to take an interest,

its en route now!

dafi said:

Thanks very much Allan but i dont even have the original card.

Thanks as well to you pete, its very kind of you to take an interest,

its en route now!

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Dafi

You don't need the card! It was just to show you the info on it!

Dafi - your scope has now been received, checked and cleaned. You should have a full explanation by email from the service team by now.

Summary points as below:

- the mould was on a flat glass plate which sits above the prism unit
- although waterproof, your version of the scope is not hermetically sealed and nitrogen purged. There was no sign of internal moisture on your unit

Cheers, Pete

Thanks for posting Pete, I have been waiting to get the scope back. I spoke to the service department after receiving an email which said amongst other things…

We couldn't find any traces of internal condensation and after testing, we couldn't reproduce it. There were a few marks on an internal lens which we have cleaned off but these marks were not the result of condensation. My best guess would be that what you saw as internal fogging was actually external moisture on the lenses being reflected off an internal surface. I have on occasion been caught out by this myself.
The other possibility is that the moisture was in the eyepiece rather than the scope, which from the repair form, is the HDF Zoom. This is a very good eyepiece but is not waterproof. It might be worth sending this back to us for examination/repair…….


I was told much the same on the phone, that there was no sign of condensation ever having been in the scope and they couldn’t get it to leak testing it. They had however removed a couple of internal marks. They also would like my eye piece back to try it on the scope and see if it wasn’t the problem. I declined because I need the scope on Sunday and the busy time will soon be upon us!! I also declined because when I ‘thought’ I saw the fogging the eyepiece was not on the scope at the time. They all seemed very convincing and I thought I must have it wrong and hadn’t seen fogging internally. So I had the scope returned to me.

I received it back to day and set it all up straight away as you can imagine!! I was happy to see the view was crisp and clean even with the poor conditions outside at the moment. On removing the eyepiece and looking back through the objective I see the same crap in there speckled over the glass somewhere down the tube. This is where it was misted up and this still looks like it is dirty to me. Not only that but there are two smudgy looking marks that look like they are on two separate surfaces that were not there before. I tried to photograph them but I could not get the camera to focus but you can see the blurs at 4 O’clock.

Now as I said It looks fine looking through, the image is good and I am up and running again which is the most important thing to me, saying that though I really don’t know what to make of this. I got a good quick turnaround and didn’t have to pay anything which is a bonus but I can’t say I am all that happy.

dafi said:

I received it back to day and set it all up straight away as you can imagine!! I was happy to see the view was crisp and clean even with the poor conditions outside at the moment. On removing the eyepiece and looking back through the objective I see the same crap in there speckled over the glass somewhere down the tube. This is where it was misted up and this still looks like it is dirty to me. Not only that but there are two smudgy looking marks that look like they are on two separate surfaces that were not there before. I tried to photograph them but I could not get the camera to focus but you can see the blurs at 4 O’clock.

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Did you look in the scope before you put the EP in place? I presume it came back from Opticron without any mould.

Perhaps time to consider an upgrade to a SDL eyepiece to bird in the rain?

i looked in to the scope before i put the eyepiece on and it was fine and clean. All of those speckles of what ever it is, are inside the scope Kevin. Those photos are with the eyepiece removed.

Dafi

Looking at your original photo in post #1, you can see the mould on the top plate, but are those specks of dust underneath. Whatever, If opticron opened it up, it should have come back clean!

I kinda thought that Alan!

I packed it in silca jell pacs when i was trying to sus out what to do before i sent it off and this seemed to dry the body and eyepiece out. If i am unfortunate enough to get the same problems for a third time i will follow this route as it worked fine.

I can only see the dust or whatever looking the wrong way through the body of the scope so i can live with it. I dont know if it degrades the quality of the contrast overall but i dont think so. Saying that its an ES80 and i get a decent view any way!!!

I am just glad to have my scope back, i couldnt believe how many times over the last few weeks i have reached for it and its not been there......what a miss!!!

Bird race the morn as well. :t:

dafi said:

Bird race the morn as well. :t:

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Good luck at this time of year! What are you hoping for? 80?
Just noticed. Orkney!. Mmm no idea. 55?

I dont know what prievious years scores have been but i think 65-70 would be up there. There have been hundreds up on hundreds of pinkfeet feeding up around the house for the last few days and i bet theres not one to be seen first thing the morn...hehe, any way cheers!!....I must go tape up my eyepiece and put the soc back on and get some kip.