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RSPB HD loose hinge (1 Viewer)

NoSpringChicken

Well-known member
United Kingdom
My partner has a pair of RSPB HD 8x42 binoculars. She likes them very much but recently the hinge has become progressively looser. If you hold them horizontally by one barrel, the other barrel droops down. There was an Optics Field Day by Viking at Minsmere yesterday, so I showed them to the representative there. He was surprised that they were so slack and said it was the first time he had seen this with the updated model. He also noticed that the eyecups had become loose too.

He told us to leave them in the shop and get a receipt and that he would take them away with him for repair. The man in shop said that the turnaround would be about 6 weeks as they have to go to Glasgow for repair. That sounds like rather a long time so, hopefully, they will be quicker than this.

In the meantime Lynn is using my old Swift HHS but says she can't see as well with them as the HDs. That is good to know but I have to say I am slightly disappointed that the HDs have failed in less than a year.

Ron
 
I'm sorry to hear about the problem you're having. I have seen this once before with the Mk1 hd's when the focus wheel as well seemed to be falling apart.

I've even seen a new Viking ED have such a loose hinge that it had barrel drop.

So it's off to Douglas (Dougie), at Glasgow Binocular Repairs. I've had to contact him recently as my scope suffered damage after tripod topple and he is official repairer for Kowas. He was able to give me some good advice though he drew the line at explaining over the phone exactly how to dissasemble the scope body housing.

Hope you get it sorted quickly.
 
I've just bought a pair of the HD 8 x 20s as a take anywhere back up. Have to say they are great (optically as good as the Alpha equivalents), just hope they last. I had a pair of the Zeiss Classics that had loose hinges. They were repaired by Zeiss, but came loose again within months - now sold!. What do you guys think of the HD's?

Paul
 
What do you guys think of the HD's?

Paul
I think optically they are excellent - bright and sharp with little CA and a good FOV. I have tried my partner's against my Minox HG 8x43 and can't really see a lot of difference. They are also nice to handle - light and compact with smooth focusing.

I am not sure that they feel quite rugged as the Minoxes and definitely do not feel as bomb proof as my Leica Trinovid 8x32 (but not much does). Hopefully the repair will go without too many problems and I will see how well they last in the long term. I think the warranty could be a little longer. 10 years is a bit mean compared to the 30 year guarantee offered by Minox and the top Opticrons.

Ron
 
Ron
I know what you mean about being bomb proof I had a pair of SLCs and they felt indestructable, trouble was they weighed a ton with it! I have a pair of Opticron Imagic's, I like them, optically they are not on a par with the EIIs I have, but are very useful for when it is wet. I agree with you with regard to the warrantees, it seems to be the trend these days to have shorter warrantees. Mind you I bet not many regulars on this bit of the forum will have the binoculars we have now in 10 years time, let alone 30!

Paul
 
We received a phone call from Minsmere yesterday to say that the repaired binoculars had been returned, so we picked them up when we visited today. They seem much better now: the hinge is a lot stiffer and the eyecups are no longer sloppy. Dougie seems to have done a good job. :t:

Turnaround for the repair was exactly three weeks which is fine and, as we dropped them off and collected them from Minsmere, we didn't have the hassle of packing them and paying for postage. The main thing is that Lynn is pleased to have them back as she can see the birds properly again!

Ron
 
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