I agree Leupold customer service is absolutely top notch and one of the best CS experiences Ive ever dealt with when sending my binos in for service and dial replacement.
I think with Vortex you can send a set of absolutely destroyed glass (clearly dropped, smashed etc) in and they will...
Binos are worth carrying and worth spending a little more on. A lot of people like the vortex's but I think leupold's are actually better glass at the price points and have almost as good of a lifetime warranty.
If its an older industrial machine (table style) with a clutch it can be difficult to control. You can replace the motor with a servo motor so you can feather it with the pedal like a home machine. If its a home machine, you can disregard this.