Habicht with sticky rubber (1 Viewer)

[exup]

Yes you are correct
In this case of sticky rubber I'm sure they can't afford to have many binoculars go sticky over five years, and in the XXIst century this problem is not unfixable (hey, most leatherette never fails). So remains the possibility they have low incident count and then chances are you won't have twice the same issue.
I've been working with a number of companies who have strong focus on quality and put a lot of effort and energy to understand and fix quality issues. Companies like Swaro who are handling the warranty repairs in-house are in an excellent position to do so and I would expect them to handle the matter seriously. But who knows...

Cheers
zp*

Swaro looks like a small company .... less than 1000 employees in Optics, so their Engineering/Technical team are likely small. This Engineering team will have to cover research, new product design & dev, manufacturing support and in-service support (assisting the Quality department for warranty type issues like we are discussing).
With the ongoing armour issues affecting many bins, I would not be surprised if this low incidence issue on a low volume model is far down the pareto list of priorities!

 

[MiddleRiver]

Not your climat case, but your sweat PH reaction with certain component in the bino finish, can be an explanation.
"If there is sweat left on it, a certain PH can act over time, even in the drawer, with certain component of the Swaro finish, even without using the binoculars for a long time... Not all having the same PH, this explains why others did not have problems with the sticky armor on any Swarovski model"

I used to 'jam' with some friends (guitar), and one particular friend of mine - also a guitar player - had such corrosive sweat that in one couple-of-hour session, his brand new strings would corrode and show visible damage. He had to wear tennis-player's terry cloth wrist bands to keep the dripping sweat from ruining the innards of his electric guitar. It was unreal :-o

 

[Hermann]

[...] Swarovski stated in e-mail responses that there are problems with the armor in hot areas and with high humidity.

That statement referred to the new armour of the Swarovski roofs. That material is as far as I can see totally different from the leatherette used on the Habichts. (It's also totally different from the rubber armour of the Habicht GA models.) Swarovski's statement thus doesn't apply to the problem under discussion here.

Hermann

 

[wllmspd]

My colleagues who use gauge blocks for measurements test out new colleagues to see if they are “rusters”… people whose finger oils will corrode the blocks. Seems pretty random as to whether people fall into this category.

Peter

 

[AegisEag]

So where can I find the caps to cover the objective lens of the Habicht 8x30W and the green eyecups (the long black original eyecup cover can't fit anymore). I don't know how long I can scrap the stickiness in the bare body after I removed the degraded leatherette so I want all the lens covered, in case it may take days, or doing it on and off.

Also where did they get the green eyecups? someone just sent it to me several years ago to replace the original small eyecups. Again the green eye cups look like this:

 

[dorubird]

That statement referred to the new armour of the Swarovski roofs. That material is as far as I can see totally different from the leatherette used on the Habichts. (It's also totally different from the rubber armour of the Habicht GA models.) Swarovski's statement thus doesn't apply to the problem under discussion here.

Hermann

Really?!
Even if the finishes of these binoculars are different, they may contain the same certain substance that interacts with a certain PH

 

[PW42]

I wouldn't wholly rule out the ph of sweat in my case (although I sweat very little). But the initial failure points I noticed on the Habicht were not where the hands naturally fall; it could I suppose have crept around over time.

 

[AegisEag]

For accuracy. I actually haven't used the Habicht the entire 7 years I owned it. I initially got it to watch the interface between concrete beam and hollow block walls to see if it is continuous. It was not bought for birdwatching. So the whole time it was kept in the pouch. I only took it out again 4 years ago to watch the roof to see if I can see the leak from rain.

It couldn't be the sweat because the stickiness is uniform in the entire leatherette and even on the inner side to the bare body. So how could the inner hidden side have sweat too.

The best theory is really darkness, humidity and heat that can encourage plasticizer migration. Or others you don't want to hear about, and may not be true at all.

 

[dorubird]

I don't know what the exact cause is, I'm not a chemist, but one thing is certain: it's from Swarovski, who has gained a "sticky fame"

I personally lost my trust in this luxury company! It is a "sticky shame"

 

[Rg548]

I don't know what the exact cause is, I'm not a chemist, but one thing is certain: it's from Swarovski, who has gained a "sticky fame"

I personally lost my trust in this luxury company! It is a "sticky shame"

I kind of agree....
I love Swaro optics generally
But at the moment I wouldn't buy a new one until the cause of this is sorted.
None of the others including Zeiss, Opticron, Kowa, Nikon, Vortex or of course Leica have seen these problems reported.

 

[Patudo]

Somewhat to my surprise my 2015 Habicht have succumbed to the same problem over this weekend. The armour is breaking up and getting sticky. So off to Swarovski they are going.

Interesting stuff, though I'm sorry it happened to you. From what I've seen traditional leatherette, the stuff used for cameras and older binoculars, would be pretty hard wearing (although there are definite exceptions - eg the stuff used in old Leitzes). Swarovski however don't now use the hard traditional leatherette but something a little softer to the touch (Nikon likewise on the EII). There are some good comparison photos on Tobias's site (greatestbinoculars.com). I must admit: I did think the current Habicht leatherette seemed durable enough when I handled one, but I guess it might not be.

Damaged leatherette gives you the possibility of re-covering with something entirely new. I did this with one of my Binuxits (using artificial reptile skin) and the result is possibly the most visually appealing binocular I own. There are some pretty interesting options out there. Gary at ECBR did mine, but I'd imagine if you're good with your hands you could do it yourself, using the old leatherette as a template.

I don't quite know what to make of some of the OP's posts, but high temperature and humidity are not the easiest conditions to keep optics in. If I lived in Lousiana and temperatures in my property regularly reached 91 degrees F (that's over 32 degress Celsius) I'd put my optics in a climate controlled cabinet.

 

[PW42]

I'd imagine if you're good with your hands

That would be the first major problem.

Anyway they have gone off to Swarovski as they are still (well) within their 30 year warranty.