has530
Well-known member
I had a good and surprising service experience with Kowa (North America). Despite all of the fine optics I have owned and offered her, my wife just likes her Kowa SV 10x25. For those not familiar this is an entry level phase-coated roof prism compact optic with the build quality you would expect at a ~$100 price point. After a trip to Costa Rica I noticed that the right eye cup was not retracting and the diopter ring plastic had deteriorated and was now quite sticky. I sent it in to Kowa not expecting much but just to see what they would do. To my surprise not only did they help me, they actually repaired the binoculars and did it all under warranty! You hear that right, a cheap entry level binocular got repaired, not replaced. It took a number of weeks as they had to order a replacement diopter ring from Japan but they arrived back to me fixed and cleaned, good as new (or better, the new diopter ring seems to be made out of a more durable material. In todays world of cheap disposable products I was quite pleased to see a company that will stand behind and actually repair their products rather than toss and replace, whether it be a $4k spotting scope or a cheap little binocular.
