Interesting to see others like David James have had similar bad experiences to me- I had one of the big silver Leica telescopes bought in 2000, which basically broke in half when i was on a tour in Uganda in 2004- it was knocked against a seat back as it was being passed to me and arrived all limp in the middle, quite incredible.
I sent this back to Adeal who were then the agents for Leica, and received a note telling me that I’d dropped the scope and that it was going to cost $1800 to repair, despite the supposed warranty. Needless to say this was not pursued and I bought a Swarovski which has been excellent despite constant heavy usage. I still plan to send the remains back to Leica with a protest about such poor treatment. It’s something of an own goal for them too as I meet hundreds of birders and this tale is duly relayed.
Not only that, I have two pairs of the supposedly dust and waterproof Leica Ultravids 10x 42’s. Both have now got lots of dust inside, and i dare not get them wet as they are clearly no longer airtight. I sent one one pair back when the right ocular actually came loose late last year, and this was repaired and cleaned in timely fashion, but I still have to do the same for the newer pair which are very dirty. For a supposedly top of the range binocular this is unacceptable, and Leica have really gone to the dogs as far as i am concerned, i cannot recommend them any longer due to the series of bad experiences related above. Swarovski certainly seem to bet them hands down for good service. Phil Gregory
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