Leica 82mm Televid scope (1 Viewer)

Has anyone else had issues with this new (and expensive) model from the Leica range. Having had an APO77 for many years and been very impressed with its optical performance (although there were some issues with the coating on the objective lens and it not being 100% waterproof), I was expecting an even better scope - but mine will not sharp focus on higher magnification (using 25-50 zoom) and it is even worse on distant objects.

I have had to return it to Germany for inspection. However, this puts me in the hands of Leica's aftermarket service department.... experience has taught me this could prove frustrasting (and so far it seems this is only going to be compounded further with this experience) and others have told me that they too have had poor service before from Leica...

I'm now without a Scope and without £2500+.....

Thoughts welcome (yes, I know, perhaps I should have bought a Swarovski or Kowa!!)

Hi, I bought a scope recently and spent quite some time comparing Leica, Swaro and Zeiss scopes. I found the Leica 82 scope superb optically, the best of the 3. So I guess it must be a problem with your sample which hopefully will be sorted out (my limited experience with Leica service is good).

PS: I bought the Swaro scope in the end, because I found it optically very close to the Leica, but lighter and cheaper, and I like the focus mechanism.

In the interests of fairness, I feel a brief update is only right:

The loan scope (which eventually arrived after it had missed the UPS delivery!) was worse than mine. At full zoom the image was impossible to focus, and lowest zoom the image was better but not crisp.

I eventually dragged the scope to the Birdfair (thankfully the entrance fee goes to a good cause), and showed it to Leica's staff on their stand. They were very helpful, and several of the 'techs' inspected the scope. They said they had never had this issue before (which I found somewhat odd - as I have only had two of their scopes and they were both like it!). However, they loaned me another scope (this one fully tested before I agreed to take it). I now await the return of mine from German and hope that the problem has been solved....

watch this space...

The saga continues:

Good news - my Scope was returned from Germany yesterday.
Bad news - its still not right, and compared to my loan scope is not as bright an image, has a shallower depth of field when focusing and is not as crisp-sharp when focused on high magnification...

I was able to compare the two side by side and the load scope is notably better....

Sorry to hear about your problems, examples like yours are the reason why I bought a Swaro in preference to the Leica last weekend. Shame really as I like Leica products but just can't trust their service unfortunately.

John.

MLH77 said:

The saga continues:

Good news - my Scope was returned from Germany yesterday.
Bad news - its still not right, and compared to my loan scope is not as bright an image, has a shallower depth of field when focusing and is not as crisp-sharp when focused on high magnification...

I was able to compare the two side by side and the load scope is notably better....

Click to expand...

It seems pretty clear that you have a defective scope. A high magnification "star-test" is the only one way you can diagnose what's wrong with it. I would suggest Googling something like "telescope star test". I find that a daylight artificial star, like a distant glitter point of sunlight reflecting from a shiny curved surface, is easier than using a real star.

The most likely defects are: astigmatism, coma, pinched optics, excessive spherical aberration and a poorly made roof prism. Sometimes there are several defects working in combination.

Unfortunately this is not all that rare in birding scopes, even the expensive brands. If you can describe what you see as you de-focus the star in both directions, we may be able to help you arrive at a diagnosis. If you still have the loaner scope you can use it as a reference. I've found that it's much better to know what's wrong when you return a scope for service.

http://aberrator.astronomy.net/html/aberrations.html

Click on Aberrator > download the pocket-aperrator

push aperture box all the way to the right , focus all the way right or left, play with the other settings , example Astigma etc.

You can use Christmas balls set at a good distance when sunny out.

Trade for the loaner scope if the same size. 82 mm scope should handle 50x with ease, my 60 ED Nikon Fieldscope handles 60x, gets dimmer of course. I am sorry you are having problems!

MLH - sorry to hear about your experience. I also like Leica products, as their looks and performance suit my eyes. However the prices seem high to me. Can anyone tell me why the APO is 2-3X more expensive than a Nikon 82 ED? And is it worth the difference?

Thanks

Steinadler said:

MLH - sorry to hear about your experience. I also like Leica products, as their looks and performance suit my eyes. However the prices seem high to me. Can anyone tell me why the APO is 2-3X more expensive than a Nikon 82 ED? And is it worth the difference?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Hello Steinadler,

A well-made Leica is comparable with the Swaro ATM/ATS HD with 25-50 zoom. That says something about optical quality. The Nikon 82 ED (I have owned one) is long known as the scope with the best price/optical quality balance. This means that you have to pay a lot extra to get a little better view. Only you can make the decision whether it's worth it to you. I know a lot of birders who are extremely happy with their Nikon but I had the opportunity (money wise) to upgrade to the Kowa TSN 883.

The Nikon is very well built, gathers a lot of light and has great centersharpness. The zoom has a very narrow FOV so I recommend strongly the 30x WA.

In Holland we work with a 1-10 scale to express how good it is. To me a Kowa is a 9.5 and a Nikon 8.75. Please take a look at this test: http://www.ehlert-partner.de/Birdwatching-Test-April 07.pdf

Anyway, I have never read a negative thing about the Nikon ED82

kwikstaart said:

Hello Steinadler,

A well-made Leica is comparable with the Swaro ATM/ATS HD with 25-50 zoom. That says something about optical quality. The Nikon 82 ED (I have owned one) is long known as the scope with the best price/optical quality balance. This means that you have to pay a lot extra to get a little better view. Only you can make the decision whether it's worth it to you. I know a lot of birders who are extremely happy with their Nikon but I had the opportunity (money wise) to upgrade to the Kowa TSN 883.

The Nikon is very well built, gathers a lot of light and has great centersharpness. The zoom has a very narrow FOV so I recommend strongly the 30x WA.

In Holland we work with a 1-10 scale to express how good it is. To me a Kowa is a 9.5 and a Nikon 8.75. Please take a look at this test: http://www.ehlert-partner.de/Birdwatching-Test-April 07.pdf

Anyway, I have never read a negative thing about the Nikon ED82

Click to expand...

Thank you for the thoughtful reply.

Still on going.....

Original scope returned to Leica - I think they are going to give up trying to repair and return to me. They have offered me a 'New' scope, but my confidence is far from convinced!!

Sorry to hear about your problems MLH77.

Did you not try the scope before you bought it ? Or did you make the same mistake as me, when I bought my first scope over the net a few years ago without seeing it first ? As people on this forum will tell you, scopes – even the the same model, from the same manufacturer – can vary considerably in terms of their optical quality.

I bought my second scope last year – a Leica Apo-televid 65. Unlike my first scope which I purchased over the net, this scope was bought from a shop after careful comparison with equivalent Swarovski & Zeiss models from different shops. This particular scope just stood out above everything else for optical quality and I wouldn’t swap it for anything else of an equivalent size. As far as I can tell, I stumbled across a really good instrument– which just happened to be this particular Leica.

This variability in a models optical performance became even more apparent to me after viewing the new Swarovski ATX 95 at Birdfair in August. One of the three 95’s I looked at impressed me enormously, tempting me to sell a Zeiss Diascope 85 I already own, but I haven’t been able to find a ‘ production ‘ scope on sale in a shop that has impressed me to the same extent – as yet.

So I guess the first lesson for anyone buying a scope is to examine it very carefully and compare directly with as many other scopes as you can before buying. Some are definitely better than others – even the same make & model.

As for Leica after sales service, I can’t really comment because I’ve had no reason to use it as yet. Although some of the comments I’ve read don’t fill me with confidence. I did have reason to call on Zeiss after sales service when the 85 was knocked over in a strong wind and damaged beyond repair. Zeiss did eventually replace it, but it took four months for the people in Germany to sort it out.

I'm watching this thread closely as I'd really like to get a Leica APO-Televid 82 scope but as I live on the west coast of Canada and will have to have the scope brought in from the USA, I'm certainly concerned about how difficult it would be to get work done on it if the scope wasn't 'right' when it arrived. I'd have to drive down to one of the dealers in WA if I wanted to look through the scope - or several scopes - before I bought one. It's a lot of extra work but if that's what I'll have to do, I will. Is there anyone else on this list in Canada who has the same scope? If so, did you take delivery of it in Canada or did you buy it in the States?
I have owned my Leica Ultravid 12x binoculars for three years and have had absolutely no problems with them so I'd really like the 'matching' scope especially as I'd like to use it for digiscoping.
Have you used your 'loaner' scope for digiscoping? Will you keep this list up to date with your efforts to get your scope right or replaced, please.

Camtec in Montreal: https://rangefinder.camtecphoto.com/shop/?IDC=1&IDSC=8
Did bought my 82 Televid, Duovid and 3X25 Ultravid there. Great service, was alble to somewhat bargain too. Had to repair my Televid (broken eyecup after I drop it drop from my backpack...Sent it to Camtec, he handle to ship for the repair to USA then send it back in a short while; great service. I am only a pleased costomer with them.
Lapprentis

Riverbank said:

I'm watching this thread closely as I'd really like to get a Leica APO-Televid 82 scope but as I live on the west coast of Canada and will have to have the scope brought in from the USA, I'm certainly concerned about how difficult it would be to get work done on it if the scope wasn't 'right' when it arrived. I'd have to drive down to one of the dealers in WA if I wanted to look through the scope - or several scopes - before I bought one. It's a lot of extra work but if that's what I'll have to do, I will. Is there anyone else on this list in Canada who has the same scope? If so, did you take delivery of it in Canada or did you buy it in the States?
I have owned my Leica Ultravid 12x binoculars for three years and have had absolutely no problems with them so I'd really like the 'matching' scope especially as I'd like to use it for digiscoping.
Have you used your 'loaner' scope for digiscoping? Will you keep this list up to date with your efforts to get your scope right or replaced, please.

Click to expand...

Sorry this is late, but I will share my thoughts on Leica, I bought from the usa, I have the apo 82 straight, I purchased the one from the leica booth at the Vegas show last year, like anything produced on a production line, there are going to good copies and you are going to get bad copies, it took leica a few years to get this new production line up and running as this scope was first introduced amid the world wide crash in 08/09, they had many growing pains, luckly the one I bought is perfect and probably the last scope I will own, as I have owned swaro 80 hd (great scope if you can get on with focus wheel, I could not) Kowa 884 great scope at lower mags but poor at higher mags, if you are digiscoping I think you find the three element glass (leica)to give better results than two element glass swaro/kowa. That being said it still comes down to getting a good copy on any scope, try to find a dealer that has more than one in stock then line them up and look at same brick wall, run them thru mags 25 30 40 and 50 see if you spot any differences in operation and detail. I bought mine unseen for 3100.00 us I only receceived a 10 year warranty, leica considered it to be a demo, my reasoning was, if it was at the vegas show chances were it would be a good copy, I got lucky, Michael Woertman, Rocky Mountain Eagle Research Foundation,