Maybe I've had bad luck but between my own needs and those of friends and family, I've dealt with many brands over the last couple decades. My info may not be current, but my several experiences each with Swarovski USA, Zeiss USA, Bushnell USA repair center, and Nikon USA Repair Dept (other Nikon customer service departments can be unreliable/clueless) have all been outstanding. They've all been super generous about providing service without cost (often even covering shipping costs to repair relatively new binoculars). My more limited experiences with Leupold, Swift, Mead, and Eagle Optics have also all been excellent. None of the above companies have charged me, or anyone I've helped, a single dollar to repair or replace a binocular sent to them for service. The only company that I've found to be on the ungenerous side is Leica. Leica service seems OK as long as you call and are able to speak to someone who picks up the phone (rather than going to voice mail), so it is worth calling several times to get a real person. They still don't always follow up, or communicate the status of an order well, but when they work on something they do the job well. Leica is the only company that has charged me (~$50?) by enforcing a fixed mandatory fee for warranty repair under the lifetime USA passport policy for a bin after the first 3 (if I remember right) years. I complained based on the circumstances of why that repair was necessary, but they didn't relent.
--AP
