Hugh Delaney
Well-known member
Hi folks,
I got a pair of Leica Noctivid 8x42 at UK Birdfair 14 months ago. Suffice to say I was very pleased with them and reckoned they deserved all the plaudits, I'd spent 2 days there comparing them with their rivals and optically thought they were the best, if they could have been designed like Zeiss SF's that would have been my dream bins.. well, we can't have everything!
A month ago I was using them in some light rain the west of Ireland, using the rain guard as usual to keep the worst of it off, as usual a very happy day out in low light watching an American Black Tern (for the birders here!). A few hours later I looked through them on a ferry to the Aran Islands. I couldn't believe it, the right barrel was more or less completely fogged-up (pic below), left barrel was ok and clear. To say I was shocked is an understatement..at first I thought I was imagining it. Then reality set in:C
To cut a long story short it took about 10 days for the worst of the fogging to clear, I can now use them relatively ok but some fogging is still present, especially visible in certain lights. On one other point about six months ago on a wetter day I noticed some water beading INSIDE the clear plastic cover over the single eye diopter scale in the centre of the bins, it set alarms off at the time but I didn't pay it much attention assuming it wouldn't effect the optics, or? Could it?!! Surely not? I've never even dunked these bins in water, sprayed a little water on the glass once or twice to remove salt is about it.
Have there been many leaker noctivids? Seem to remember someone on here getting a 'test' pair that fogged up? I'll have to hang onto to them until birding season dies down in a week or two and then decide what to do, send them back to Germany?
Thanks in advance
Hugh
I got a pair of Leica Noctivid 8x42 at UK Birdfair 14 months ago. Suffice to say I was very pleased with them and reckoned they deserved all the plaudits, I'd spent 2 days there comparing them with their rivals and optically thought they were the best, if they could have been designed like Zeiss SF's that would have been my dream bins.. well, we can't have everything!
A month ago I was using them in some light rain the west of Ireland, using the rain guard as usual to keep the worst of it off, as usual a very happy day out in low light watching an American Black Tern (for the birders here!). A few hours later I looked through them on a ferry to the Aran Islands. I couldn't believe it, the right barrel was more or less completely fogged-up (pic below), left barrel was ok and clear. To say I was shocked is an understatement..at first I thought I was imagining it. Then reality set in:C
To cut a long story short it took about 10 days for the worst of the fogging to clear, I can now use them relatively ok but some fogging is still present, especially visible in certain lights. On one other point about six months ago on a wetter day I noticed some water beading INSIDE the clear plastic cover over the single eye diopter scale in the centre of the bins, it set alarms off at the time but I didn't pay it much attention assuming it wouldn't effect the optics, or? Could it?!! Surely not? I've never even dunked these bins in water, sprayed a little water on the glass once or twice to remove salt is about it.
Have there been many leaker noctivids? Seem to remember someone on here getting a 'test' pair that fogged up? I'll have to hang onto to them until birding season dies down in a week or two and then decide what to do, send them back to Germany?
Thanks in advance
Hugh
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