Zeiss Victory 10x42 T* FL Rubber Armouring (2 Viewers)

[Acorndrive]

Hallo all,

My Binocular addiction seems to be worsening of late, with several recent purchases, including some Swarovski Habichts (surprisingly good glass given the age) and some Zeiss higher end Conquest and Victory products.

Amongst these I managed to pick up a Zeiss 10x42 Victory T*FL for the very interesting price of 350CHF. Optically the binocular is fine, my issue is with the armouring which is so loose that air bubbles can be felt when using. I've shipped it off to Zeiss to see what they have to say, but am a tad surprised at the quality degradation in a less than six year old product that costs circa 2,000 USD.
Have any other forum members experienced this issue, and how did they manage to solve? Your inputs, advise etc much appreciated as ever.

 

[Conndomat]

Amongst these I managed to pick up a Zeiss 10x42 Victory T* SL for the very interesting price of 350CHF. Optically the binocular is fine, my issue is with the armouring which is so loose that air bubbles can be felt when using. I've shipped it off to Zeiss to see what they have to say, but am a tad surprised at the quality degradation in a less than six year old product that costs circa 2,000 USD.
Have any other forum members experienced this issue, and how did they manage to solve? Your inputs, advise etc much appreciated as ever.

Hello,

the FL series is considered to be very robust, including the armor!

I wouldn't worry, maybe it's one of the few outliers that happens with every manufacturer, Zeiss will fix it IMO.

Andreas

 

[Acorndrive]

Hello,

the FL series is considered to be very robust, including the armor!

I wouldn't worry, maybe it's one of the few outliers that happens with every manufacturer, Zeiss will fix it IMO.

Andreas

Thanks for the vote of confidence, I'll report back on the outcome once known. As a side note I recently contacted Swarovski Austria to source replacement eyecups for 60 year old Habichts. The new rubber eyecups arrived within a week, gratis. That's what I call service!!!

 

[Acorndrive]

And so 5 weeks after sending my Zeiss Victory 10x42 FLs to Zeiss Service Germany I received a response together with a quotation for service costs.

The repair costs come to USD 1,450, with an estimated delivery time of 5 weeks.

Needless to say this is not an offer I will be availing of. Having now experienced both Swarovski and Zeiss service, there is for me a clear difference both in response time, flexibility and cost between the two. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Birdister]

I suspect that is for a straight swop. When I sent in a spotting scope for what should have been a fairly simple repair I was simply offered a swop for another unit. It made me wonder at the time whether they had any service capacity at all.

 

[MiddleRiver]

And so 5 weeks after sending my Zeiss Victory 10x42 FLs to Zeiss Service Germany I received a response together with a quotation for service costs.

The repair costs come to USD 1,450, with an estimated delivery time of 5 weeks.

Needless to say this is not an offer I will be availing of. Having now experienced both Swarovski and Zeiss service, there is for me a clear difference both in response time, flexibility and cost between the two. Your mileage may vary.

I'm curious:
what is the warranty?
is it transferable?

I ask because I have to assume the repair cost is based on out-of-warranty services !?

 

[Richard D]

I'm curious:
what is the warranty?
is it transferable?

I ask because I have to assume the repair cost is based on out-of-warranty services !?

Zeiss exclude armour from the standard international warranty (don't know about US) - it's treated as a consumable

 

[Acorndrive]

ZA

I'm curious:
what is the warranty?
is it transferable?

I ask because I have to assume the repair cost is based on out-of-warranty services !?

My understanding is that there is a lifetime warranty on Victory line products. This does not include abuse or accidental damage. The Victory FLs are heavily advertised as rugged, waterproof etc. But my experience shows this is not always the case, and indeed this damage is not covered by warranty, clearly.

 

[Richard D]

Salesforce

kyuri.my.salesforce.com

 

[Patudo]

Good luck with the warranty (unfortunately I don't read German - is the warranty transferable)?

I have to say when reading your original post, my first thought was that high-end binoculars are not normally sold for such "interesting" prices, and if they are, there probably are good reasons why...

 

[Richard D]

Good luck with the warranty (unfortunately I don't read German - is the warranty transferable)? I have to say when reading your original post, my first thought was that high-end binoculars are not normally sold for such "interesting" prices, and if they are, there probably are good reasons why...

The warranty details are repeated in English on the link I posted.

 

[Patudo]

Thanks! So the OP needs certain documentation (original sales receipt, filled in warranty card etc) - but even so, rubber armour is not covered by the warranty but is guaranteed 'within the guarantee provisions defined by law'. It'd be interesting to know what these might be...

 

[Rg548]

Try phoning East Coast Optics in England...
It 'MAY' be somrthing they can help with.
They are Zeiss service agents.

 

[Conndomat]

The repair costs come to USD 1,450, with an estimated delivery time of 5 weeks.

Hi,

what is that, 1450, - just for a change of armor?

Did Zeiss find any other defects here?

Guarantee or not, the price seems absurdly high to me. Maybe you could contact Zeiss Service again by phone and ask if something went wrong?!

Andreas

 

[jring]

Hi,

there are indeed some intresting questions...

- the 10x42 FL is not "just 6 years old". I just checked the Zeiss sports optics page from early 2016 and the only FL series models available were the 32mm ones which were phased out only lately...

VICTORY - Premium Ferngläser von ZEISS | ZEISS Deutschland

VICTORY Ferngläser von ZEISS "Made in Germany" – Die innovative Spitzenoptik für das passionierte Beobachten und für höchste Herausforderungen.

web.archive.org

The 10x42 FL is way older. Since the transferable warranty is 10 years after original purchase, they might still be under warranty, if the paperwork is there..

- I too cannot belive, that an armouring swap is supposed to be 1500 USD... I guess they don't have parts any more and this is their discounted offer for a new pair of whatever...

All in all not quite up to Swaro standard, unfortunately...

Joachim

 

[Paultricounty]

Acorndrive,

As Andreas has asked, what are the specifics, what are they saying the $1450 is for? Gotta get that breakdown, so we can all throw this around for the next 30 or 100 posts. 😏✌🏼.

Paul

 

[Essex Tern]

Interesting they were so cheap from the off, maybe there was an underlying issue already - subjected to excessive deet or something maybe?

 

[garymh]

Armour for the FL binoculars is still available and does not cost that amount.

There must be something more seriously wrong with the binocular for an estimate for that amount to be issued.

What work is listed on the estimate ?

 

[temmie]

So let us set this straight:
you bought a 10x42 T*FL that hasn't been on the made since over 10 years.
You bought it for around 370 euro.
You claim victory binoculars have a lifetime warranty.
The rubbber is defective and you want it replaced.
Zeiss quoted you a repair price of 1450 USD.

Some question arise and comments:

• You mention it's 6 years old. Has it been bought as new old stock 6 years ago? So you have a receipt stating it's bought 6 years old?
• You bought it for a price that's about 1/4th of new price, back in the days. If only the rubber is faulty / bubbly, that's still a very good price. What I would do is remove all glue and glue it myself. I have had my 7x42 T*FL reglued by Zeiss but I feel the design of the x42 allows the rubber to get loose more easily than with e.g. the x32 victory series.
• You mention Victory binoculars have a lifetime warranty. Note that older binoculars often had 30 years of warranty, but new EU policies limit this to 10 years. You can buy extra warranty / some shops give extra warranty. US warranty is transferable without receipt. EU not so much. In short, Victory binoculars do not have, by default wearing the victory name, a lifetime warranty, for sure not in Europe.
• Zeiss quoted you a hefty price, in USD. Why in USD when Zeiss is German and you are in Switzerland? And is the rubber the only defect they include in the repair?

Last, you aren't following up on your last post and in this topic, while you get alerts every time someone reacted in this topic. Why is that?

 

[Acorndrive]

Hello Temmie

The tone of your post is somewhat aggressive and adversarial. I'm not sure how I have upset you.... perhaps you work for Zeiss. In any case I simply dont have the time, or frankly the desire to reply to this type of inquisition.

Freundliche Grüsse
Michael