Hi Peter,
We dealt with York Optical in Sydney (no longer in existence) and became so
frustrated over the service, costs and the time that it took for the repairs
that I ended up buying a pair of Swarovski 10 x 42 ELs and a year later I
bought Gavin the new Leicas. (These had not been released when I bought the
ELs and it was painful to say the least that he has ended up with the better
binoculars, but that is another story!)
The initial cause of the problems with the Zeiss were that both had been
dropped, but Zeiss were never able to repair them to the point where they
stayed in alignment! Mine were serviced and realigned 3 times at a cost of
$400 - $600 a pop, and Gavin's were done twice.
The Leica binoculars have yet to be dropped, but last year as I was hopping
over the granite at Gunlom I came an absolute cropper and severely bashed mine
about and so far so good.
In terms of getting binoculars repaired locally, it is not just Zeiss
binoculars that are sent back to Zeiss, because about 4 months after purchasing
the Swarovskis something went wrong with the focusing wheel and when I took it
back to the shop they had to send it back to Europe to be fixed by Swarovski.
Regards
Judith
Subject: old binocularsDate: Wed, 9 Apr 2008 15:43:15 +1000From:
: ; ;
I was under the impression that the cheaper the binoculars the more expensive
they are to fix, so I was surprised to hear that Zeiss cost so much to fix. I
was also under the impression that the more one pays for binoculars the more
robust they are, so I'm equally surprised to hear that Zeiss binoculars would
end up out of alignment every 2 years. Is this only true of older models?
And if they do go out of alignment that easily, is an impoverished birder going
to end up throwing them away or, more likely, using them misaligned? If so,
why bother fixing them before handing them over?
A call to York Optical in Melbourne has confused me more. They said Zeiss cost
more to fix because they won't touch them because it would void the warranty,
so they go back to Zeiss who charge what they like. A call to Camera Clinic
confirmed that Zeiss are very complicated to collimate. Why would anyone buy
binoculars that are expensive to buy, expensive to fix, and break easily?
York Optical seems not to do the work themselves now, but said that seeing as I
had bought my Bushnells from them (for $270) they'd just fix them under
warranty if they needed alignment.
Sorry to hijack the thread about donating binoculars, but I'm very interested
in this issue of robustness and repairs and I'm sure others are too, as it's
often put forward as one of the main reasons to buy the more expensive brands.
Peter Shute
From: Judith Hoyle Sent: Wednesday, 9 April 2008
2:00 PMTo: Gregory Little; Peter Shute; : RE:
[Birding-Aus] old binoculars
Hi Greg, I could not agree more about this dilemma. Gavin and I have 2 pairs
of Zeiss 10x42s in the cupboard - 1986 and 1989 models. We got fed up of
having to pay between $400 and $600 to have them realigned every couple of
years or so and have replaced them. I just can't bring myself to chuck them
out! If there was a cheap repair option we would be happy to donate them. I
like Michelle's idea because we seem to be doing a pretty poor job in this
country as far as converting our children into birders. Our 15 year old son is
an avid birder, but as far as his school mates are concerned (with the
exception of a very select few), he would die rather than admit it! It would
be wonderful if your musings on this issue resulted in more young birders out
there. Regards Judith
> From: > To: ;
> > Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] old binoculars> Date:
> Wed, 9 Apr 2008 13:58:40 +1000> > Peter> > You might be right, but I would
> have thought that most of the expense> was labour. So the cost of cleaning
> and recollimation repair in for> example some African or Asian countries may
> be far less than here. But> then that cost may still be expensive for the
> recipient of those> binoculars in those countries. Plus also as you suggest
> many cheaper> binoculars may not be repairable and are simply disposable.
> What a> dilemma. So do we simply chuck the old ones into the bin?> > Greg
> Little> > Greg Little - Principal Consultant> General Flora and Fauna> PO Box
> 526> Wallsend, NSW, 2287, Australia> Ph 02 49 556609> Fx 02 49 556671>
> www.gff.com.au> > -----Original Message-----> From: Peter Shute
> > Sent: Wednesday, 9 April 2008 12:24 PM> To:
> Gregory Little; > Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] old
> binoculars> > I was under the impression that collimation costs about $100,
> assuming> the binoculars are constructed in a way that allows it to be done
> at> all. Everyone has different standards, but I'm wondering whether many>
> Australian birders use binoculars worth less than that. Perhaps what> the
> customer was really being told was that their binoculars really> couldn't be
> fixed.> > As for getting it done more cheaply overseas, if the construction>
> doesn't really allow it, then collimating them might require even more>
> precise equipment than for more expensive ones and might not be> available. I
> don't know anything about binocular construction, so> perhaps my dealer
> misled me about this.> > I'd be very interested to know if your idea is
> feasible, but I suspect> that it might be more feasible to have the
> recipients use them with one> eye closed or just send them money to buy cheap
> ones. $10 compacts> definitely have their limitations, but are still heaps
> better than> nothing, some of them anyway.> > Peter Shute> > -----Original
> Message-----> From: >
> On Behalf Of Gregory Little> Sent:
> Wednesday, 9 April 2008 11:39 AM> To: > Subject:
> [Birding-Aus] old binoculars> > Gooday birders> > I was recently in a shop
> that sold surveying equipment, telescopes and> binoculars etc and repaired
> these. A customer had a not so old and not> so expensive pair of binoculars
> and was asking if these could be> repaired. Apparently the collimation was
> out and they needed an internal> clean. The shop owner responded that they
> certainly could easily repair> them but that it would be much cheaper for him
> to buy another pair of> binoculars and he would probably get a better quality
> pair into the> bargain. This is probably realistic as the repairer has to
> charge for> the service. I suppose that the person then buys another pair of>
> binoculars and puts the old ones into the top of the wardrobe. I have an>
> older pair of Nikon Travelites that also need cleaning and recollimation> and
> that are simply sitting in a cupboard. > > Is there someone out there who
> collects such unwanted binoculars and> sends them to countries that could
> cheaply repair them and then> distribute them to bird watchers who may
> otherwise be unable to afford a> pair of binoculars? They are welcome to have
> mine.> > Greg Little> > > > Greg Little - Principal Consultant> General Flora
> and Fauna> PO Box 526> Wallsend, NSW, 2287, Australia> Ph 02 49 556609> Fx 02
> 49 556671> HYPERLINK "http://www.gff.com.au"www.gff.com.au> > > No virus
> found in this outgoing message.> Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus
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