Help Nikon Binoculars - worst service and product ever?

[Sailfree]

is very short sighted indeed.

Some while ago there was a thread about expensive breathable waterproofs that had a problem and bad service.

Later there was a report that the company rectified the problem and since then there have been a number of reports of excellent service.

Hopefully Nikon will find this thread and realise that a goodwill gesture will pay dividends.

I have a cheap pair of compass bins on my charter boat and treated myself to some Stieners last year. I know they are expensive but I hate to buy something and then later wished I had paid just a little bit more. Of course immediately I bought the Stieners I found where my Eschenbach Regatta compass bins had been hiding in the garage - now destined for e bay!!

 

[Sailfree]

I have a pair of steiners that I bought at the SIBS at a v good price. Since then a mate got some Fujinon (?) bins that are as good if not better for much less money.

Problem with evaluating these products is that they really need to stand the test of time and usual abuse before you can finally decide then find the model is superceded!!

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Is that you in the picture looking for the receipt?

 

[outatsea]

I have a pair of steiners that I bought at the SIBS at a v good price. Since then a mate got some Fujinon (?) bins that are as good if not better for much less money.

I can vouch for Fujinon 7 x 50 marine binos - bought them at SIBS at least 10 years ago and still give excellent magnification and clean imagery

 

[actionoptics]

Out of collimation.

I have no connection with Nikon but I repair and reset binoculars every working day.

Binoculars don't just go out of collimation.

There are four large and heavy lumps of glass inside and they are usually screwed and glued in place. Nikon's certainly are. The large front lenses are often in a cone which is screwed into the body. So if a binocular is out of alignment, either one or more of the prisms has been knocked out of place or one of the front cones has been knocked and is cross threaded.
I know of a farmer who climbed on to the roof of his land rover with his binocular to check on his herd of cows; got down and drove off until he got to the first bend in the road and watched his bino over take and go bouncing down the hill. He brought the bino into the workshop convinced something must be damaged but it was fine.
Another customer knocked the same make of bino off a coffee table onto carpet and cross threaded the front cone.
Sometimes you are lucky and other times you are not but I know from experience that Nikon bino's are well designed and well built and from a purely logical view, it is not Nikon UK's fault that the collimation has been bumped out of line.
From a public relations view, it was very good of them to fix the bino the first time without charge and I have every simpathy with them for saying once is enough. During the first repair this binocular would have been stripped; reset and hand built by an experienced technician.
Even Steiners go out of line when bumped and so do Fujinon. I get both makes sent to me for repair although most Steiners now have to be returned to Germany as they will not supply spares.
My local Lifeboat Station was issued with a Bynolyt 7x50 which a visiting school child dropped. The centre body broke so they had two monoculars. I was able to buy a new body from the UK distributor and rebuild the bino for the RNLI.
On my own boat I have a Helios Oceanmaster 7x50 and that has been carefully looked after for the past 6 years but it has had to be re-aligned after a particularly rough passage and it was not thrown to the floor.
Some you win and some you lose.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Good post Actionoptics. Nice to see some expertise on the forum. You've stopped everyone in their tracks!

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Here is a photo of my house:-

I do have a receipt but as I have said it is in storage, when the building project is finished I will have access to it. Nikon have a record of the purchase date as I provided it last year when I returned it the first time. The difficulty I have it I cannot reject the product under the sales of goods act without getting my hands on that receipt because my contract is with the retailer not Nikon UK. Nikon UK however should stand behind their product and put the matter right. A pair of Stieners with compass is double the price of the Nikons.

Yeh I would build a new house if I lived in a dump like that too.

 

[Frankie-H]

Yeh I would build a new house if I lived in a dump like that too.

They must be very worried about their digger bucket escaping, to put it in a cage like that.

 

[wotayottie]

My Fuji image stabilized ones are 10 years old now and are the dog's doodas. They cost a lot more new now than when I bought them alas. I think after living with IS bins it would be hard to go back to standard shaky-all-abouty ones.

I agree . Mine are Canon image stabilised and they certainly survive being bounced aout on a shelf.

 

[maxi77]

Nikon has shot itself in the kneecap. Several hundred potential customers will read this blog. "So what?" says Nikon. But Google loves YBW.com, and any search for Nikon binocular quality is likely to return this thread on page one of the results. Oh dear!

Mind you there are still loads of people out there who seem to think Rocna are great.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Mind you there are still loads of people out there who seem to think Rocna are great.

You're right. Their optics are appalling.

 

[actionoptics]

Canon's cost a lot to fix

I agree . Mine are Canon image stabilised and they certainly survive being bounced about on a shelf.

The last canon 10x30 stabilised that I had to return to Canon on behalf of a customer, cost around £80 to re-align and that was a few years ago.
I also have one on board and make sure it is always well cushioned when not being used.

 

[Seven Spades]

I have no connection with Nikon but I repair and reset binoculars every working day.

Binoculars don't just go out of collimation.

There are four large and heavy lumps of glass inside and they are usually screwed and glued in place. Nikon's certainly are. The large front lenses are often in a cone which is screwed into the body. So if a binocular is out of alignment, either one or more of the prisms has been knocked out of place or one of the front cones has been knocked and is cross threaded.
I know of a farmer who climbed on to the roof of his land rover with his binocular to check on his herd of cows; got down and drove off until he got to the first bend in the road and watched his bino over take and go bouncing down the hill. He brought the bino into the workshop convinced something must be damaged but it was fine.
Another customer knocked the same make of bino off a coffee table onto carpet and cross threaded the front cone.
Sometimes you are lucky and other times you are not but I know from experience that Nikon bino's are well designed and well built and from a purely logical view, it is not Nikon UK's fault that the collimation has been bumped out of line.
From a public relations view, it was very good of them to fix the bino the first time without charge and I have every simpathy with them for saying once is enough. During the first repair this binocular would have been stripped; reset and hand built by an experienced technician.
Even Steiners go out of line when bumped and so do Fujinon. I get both makes sent to me for repair although most Steiners now have to be returned to Germany as they will not supply spares.
My local Lifeboat Station was issued with a Bynolyt 7x50 which a visiting school child dropped. The centre body broke so they had two monoculars. I was able to buy a new body from the UK distributor and rebuild the bino for the RNLI.
On my own boat I have a Helios Oceanmaster 7x50 and that has been carefully looked after for the past 6 years but it has had to be re-aligned after a particularly rough passage and it was not thrown to the floor.
Some you win and some you lose.

Very interesting post. These bins have not been dropped have have gone out of alignment after a rough passage as apparently did yours. Do you think that is acceptable in a pair of bins that are so new and cost so much? Just think how I feel, I have bought a very expensive pair of binoculars, took them on holiday and before the holiday is finished they go out of alignment. They are returned for repair, and then are kept in my wardrobe until the start of the next season. The first time they are put on the boat this season they are not used but kept below, when I came to use them they are out of alignment.

Can you tell me if it is possible that the technician who undertook the first repair did not tighten up everything properly which was then vulnerable to a rough crossing even though they were stowed the whole time?

 

[Matelot Joe]

Very interesting post. These bins have not been dropped have have gone out of alignment after a rough passage as apparently did yours. Do you think that is acceptable in a pair of bins that are so new and cost so much? Just think how I feel, I have bought a very expensive pair of binoculars, took them on holiday and before the holiday is finished they go out of alignment. They are returned for repair, and then are kept in my wardrobe until the start of the next season. The first time they are put on the boat this season they are not used but kept below, when I came to use them they are out of alignment.

Can you tell me if it is possible that the technician who undertook the first repair did not tighten up everything properly which was then vulnerable to a rough crossing even though they were stowed the whole time?

Its just very bad customer service, plain and simple, the profit margin is far more important than customer relations. I learnt this lesson long ago, working as a chef, (5* place) some customers would come in and complain just to show off in front of a guest or a girlfriend/woman.
Nothing wrong with the food at all but if you wanted them to come back you just said yes sir no sir.
Obviously I'm not implying your that sort of guy but they are very short sighted.
Pun not intended Scotty !

 

[Tricia]

No disagree with this. If I buy marine binoculars I expect a certain amount of ruggedness built in. They are being used in a hostile environment and must be able to accept a certain amount of rough handling. If they cannot handle being dropped a couple of feet, say from a cockpit seat to a cockpit floor, then they are not fit for purpose. If you have two identical pairs of binoculars and one pair can accept dropping on the floor and the other pair cannot, then that is not a design fault, it is a quality control issue in the manufacturing process.

We had 12 years hard use out of a pair of Tasco binoculars and would not even consider buying the new Tascos as a replacement due to the change in quality, which has come about I suspect, by moving to a Chinese factory like a lot of other manufacturers have done.

Thanks to this thread, Nikon is off the list for our replacement binoculars. And if I had spent a thousand pounds on a pair of Steiners and they went out of alignment for any reason, short of throwing them off a tall building and having them run over by a vehicle, I do not think I would be responsible for my actions.

 

[ean_p]

I agree . Mine are Canon image stabilised and they certainly survive being bounced aout on a shelf.

are the IS bins really worth the candle?...... have thought about some for a long time but never climbed down off the fence yet!

 

[Matelot Joe]

No disagree with this. If I buy marine binoculars I expect a certain amount of ruggedness built in. They are being used in a hostile environment and must be able to accept a certain amount of rough handling. If they cannot handle being dropped a couple of feet, say from a cockpit seat to a cockpit floor, then they are not fit for purpose. If you have two identical pairs of binoculars and one pair can accept dropping on the floor and the other pair cannot, then that is not a design fault, it is a quality control issue in the manufacturing process.

We had 12 years hard use out of a pair of Tasco binoculars and would not even consider buying the new Tascos as a replacement due to the change in quality, which has come about I suspect, by moving to a Chinese factory like a lot of other manufacturers have done.

Thanks to this thread, Nikon is off the list for our replacement binoculars. And if I had spent a thousand pounds on a pair of Steiners and they went out of alignment for any reason, short of throwing them off a tall building and having them run over by a vehicle, I do not think I would be responsible for my actions.

+1 Exactly