Recently I received clarification from the director/head of Leica NA’s customer service regarding their warranty.
They offer lifetime warranty on their sports optics to the original purchaser.
They only offer ONE YEAR of warranty on USED or DEMO optics sold by authorized retailers.
No warranty on used or demo gear sold by non-authorized dealers.
This cemented my fears that even buying used or demo gear was fruitless because if ever a problem would arise, you would pay astronomical prices to fix it.
Hm, that may answer that puzzle, partially. So it's not the optic itself but the service that's lacking, especially compared to Swarovski. I think the only answer to this is, buy used and with a heavy discount. That's the only way it would make sense.
The first optic I got, my first Alpha brand was the late 90's Trinovid. I didn't realize at the time how good it was. I just accepted it, loved the view through it. The 8x42 BA. Love the shape, how it was build like a brick. I looked through other binoculars and none could best it. Not even Swarovski EL. Now that's in terms of razor sharpness. EL
did have a long list of improvements to peripheral attributes. Better ergonomics, better eyecups, brightness.. more diopters at infiinity, closer focus, better hydrophobic properites, etc but at its core function, resolving to the Nth degree, the old Trinovid is just fine. It did and still does generate the 'wow' effect. I got one for $550 IIRC circa 2007 and I can see they still go for about the same, used. They hold the value well. (Never mind inflation). Trinovids are 20+ years old now. I do not believe Swaro EL is sharper than Ultravid. Or Zeiss. I do not believe SF is sharper than the Ultravid. It is "as sharp as" Ultravid but not sharper and that's a compliment. Unless we are talking about 10x54 HT but that's not a fair comparison.
I think the old Trinovid / Ultravid / Ultravid HD+, etc. reached the pinnacle of perfection in terms of resolution and sharpness and cannot be improved upon. All improvements are are peripheral: Close focus, better armor, eyecups, diopter settings, better coatings, etc. etc. etc.
If I got stranded on a desert island with a 10x50 Ultravid I would not be upset with the cards fate dealt me. Instead rejoice in the fine optical instrument that's surely going to outlive me. Never got the finances to afford multiple alpha configuration, such as 8x42
and 10x50
and 7x42. If you take care of these bricks, the grandkids will use them when they turn into adults.
The avatar is an objective pic of my Trinovid. (I've since long moved on) Loved the green coating. There was something magic about the whole recipe despite various annoyances, like limited overdrive at infinity.
The Ultravid is really the same repackaged device as the Trinovid but I would not take that as a bad thing. Nevertheless they are a bit stagnant. Zeiss copied Swaro's EL line. The SF looks like an improved copy of EL.
I love Leica but will not pay Leica prices, like many, maybe that's the crux of the problem. I would buy GPO before I got Leica, but GPO is kind of based on Leica. They have a Leica engineer on staff who heavily contributed. I personally talked to the management at GPO and that's what I learned. It's a more cost-effective brand, I think.
store.leica-camera.com
