When working in a city centre office around 2018, I spent a fair few (sometimes extended
) lunch breaks watching breeding Peregrines in another part of the city. To reduce odd stares whilst carrying a full-sized binocular across the city, I picked up an 8x25cl compact from a shop almost within sight of the nest! I hadn’t intended to. I had never had a good experience with compacts-having only ever tried lower tier models many years before. But they were on offer and provided a surprisingly superb image. That was in 2018.
They got a reasonable amount of use until a medical issue arose in 2019 followed by the dreaded covid lockdown prompted me to stuff full-time work and retire early😁. (Best thing I ever did and highly recommended, finances permitting). Since, they have had much less use, mainly on non-specific bird watching trips in town or when walking longer distances hikes .
They have always performed flawlessly and have provided views of plenty of unexpected sightings. The one thing that was lacking though was a rainguard. I tried a couple of third party offerings but they weren’t great so went without. I used the bins last weekend on a longer walk and although there was no rain, fine dust, crumbs from snacks and other probably unmentionable detritus seemed to accumulate on the oculars causing me disproportionate irritation.
So on Sunday I looked again for a suitable cover. I saw one pictured on the Swarovski website but I couldn’t find one for sale. I clicked on the contact link and asked where one could be purchased?
I received a reply on Monday morning. “..our UK branch will send you this rainguard for free this week.” It arrived in the post yesterday morning and I hadn’t even given my address. Their records are damned good!
Over the 25 or so years that I have used Swarovskis I have contacted them a few times and each time I have received the same exemplary service.
There seems to be a body of criticism generated by some irrational tribalism at optics manufacturers. At present Swarovski seem to be the prime target on here in terms of service, design and and optical performance etc. It might deter someone looking for a top-tier binocular from giving them a try. Don’t let it! Try all brands in the hand for as long as possible. For me the optical performance of Swarovski is second to none, the handling is superb and the after sales care top-notch.
Of course I still have interesting “discussions” with a mate who still swears by his Zeiss SFs-he can’t see the yellow/green colour cast and had to pay to have his focussing mechanism fixed! Each to his own!!