Bino warranties

[lif]

Need some help. Trying to upgrade to higher end binos by looking for some used binos online. I know Swarovski is known for warranty excellence but I was wondering someone can give me breakdown of the high end optics warranties. I know Leica and vortex are well known as well. Just need to make sure I understand which of these warranties are lifetime even after buying them second hand. All help appreciated.

 

[fire652]

Swarovski let me pass a registered bino from another member to myself. I have owned vortex, leupold and now only Swarovski binoculars. Warrantee is second to none. I have put my slc through hell and Swarovski hasvthem now and taken full care of them. The vortex razors I had would have fallen apart with the abuse I handed to the slc but vortex would have exchanged them no questions asked. I do baby my els a lot and have yet to send them or the spotter in. I will always buy swaro from here on out


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[Idahohillboy]

Swaro is now charging for repairs. I had a pair of 10 x 42 that were droped the prism busted lose swaro wants me to pay 150 to fix it. When I asked about the warranty they said only covers factory defects.

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[Idahohillboy]

They said repairs were free you just have to pay for the part.

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[lif]

So what about some of the other brands warranties?

 

[Beendare]

Ive had great experience with swaro, Zeiss and Leica warranty

Old swaros essentially wore them out, swaro replaced with a new bino for $175.

Leica geos leaked when new, fixed but they rec i send to europe vs US repair facility so it took 5 weeks. Btw geo rf only 5 ys warranty

My zeiss 15x went down in a horse wreck knocking them out of alignment at about the 12 yr mark, they fixed free. Lifetime

My Nikon EDGs are lifetime warr

 

[lif]

So you would think that any of Zeiss Leica or Swarovski would honor warranty even after I bought the glasses second hand

 

[realunlucky]

I know Swarovski will transfer

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[micus]

My uncle had a pair of 8x Swaros among the many other pairs hes collected. They were his first and haggard as hell. They looked like they did a tour in Da'nang. Swaro fully rebuilt/recoated them to as new for $150. Tuff to beat!

 

[venado_hunter]

Ive had great service with all 3.
Sent in a zeiss scope to add a target turret. Was changed out and sent back with no charge.
Sent my spoting scope in to Swaro to get cleaned up. They cleaned up the glass and rearmored a couple spots on the outside. Sent back no charges.
I had some probles with an older pair of Leica geovids. Leica sent me a new pair of the latest geovids (upgrade) at no charge.


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[AGPank]

I'm limiting my reply to alphas: Swarovski, Zeiss, Meopta indicate lifetime transferable warranties, all are for manufacturer defects.

I've had two experiences with SONA. I bought a pair that the owner damaged and for a fee they were rebuilt and upgraded to a point they were assigned a new SN.

I bought a pair of ELs off eBay. They indicated a minor rattle, I researched online and SONA has statements that some minor noise is normal. I received them and immediately discovered the rattle wasn't normal. I sent to SONA, 6 weeks later they came back good as new, no charge. It appeared an internal seal was damaged as dust was inside and the rattle was either a loose lens or prism. SONA seems to have a great reputation for being able to rebuild or repair binoculars for free or reasonable fee.

I don't have any experience with Meopta warranty, but have the S2 spotter, 8x32, and have owned the 10x42. Meopta feels like it is built for military abuse.

I own Leica binoculars. They offer a 3-year no-fault "passport warranty". This is supposed to cover accidental damage. This is for original owner. I've read statements on the birdforum where Leica has told owners the lifetime manufacturer warranty is for the binoculars, not the owner. I assume this means they will cover manufacturer defects, not owner damage. My limited experience was for the tripod adapter. The rubber strap broke and they sent a replacement strap for no cost.

I think Zeiss also has a limited duration no-fault warranty so maybe a Zeiss owner can expand.

 

[mtfallon]

Dropped my zeiss conquest HD bino's out of my chest pack (forgot to close lid) while dragging my buddies mulie out of a tree it piled up in.. ended up with a big ding in the lense but Zeiss replaced/fixed free of charge! I can't tell if they were replaced or if they cleaned them really well. They look brand new. They had to send them to Germany, took about 5/6 weeks total.

 

[307]

Maven has an unconditional lifetime warranty, whether it's your fault or not. I believe the warranty is transferred to the owner regardless of whether they were the original owner or bought them second hand.

 

[Idahohillboy]

I will say that my swaros and vortex's are great. And that regardless swaro will replace busted glass at a fraction of the cost. My buddy ran over a tube and they replaced it. As well my swaro's with the busted prism are not original owner. Both Vortex and Swaro have been super cool. I was only running vortex as my bino and I have 15s and a spotter in swaro. The busted prism swaros are replacing my vortex HDs.

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[Jimbob]

It seems to me that Leica is the odd man out. I want to purchase some glass and don't mind buying used but I am nervous to go with Leica because of the non-transferable warranty. All the other big names have a transferable warranty.

 

[elkguide]

Swarovski has covered my "mishaps" for MANY years.

 

[Beendare]

Well heres a "Mishap" for you; <grin> its funny now but not at the time.

My buddy and I were sitting glassing on the side of a very steep hillside in OTC Co unit for mule deer.

We ended up taking a snooze and my buddy had undone the strap holding his binos and they were just laying on his chest. A rockchuck comes wandering down right next to him and jolts him awake and as he sits up.....there go his 2 yr old Swaro 10xSLCs cartwheeeling down the hill.

By the time I sat up, I could still see them bouncing down the hill about 400 yds away....still going.

It actually took us a couple hours to find them- trashed of course...Swaro only charged him shipping as I recall....and he has never taken those binos off the strap ever again!