-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Problem with green coating of EL SV 8x32 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter bittern
- Start date
Stuarts vision
Well-known member
OMG
Paultricounty
Well-known member
But then he might have to send them in for service of cracked eye pieces.
Paultricounty
Well-known member
Who are these four people? Did they all buy them from same place and were they all bought at same time? That’s crazy! It’s also crazy they’re all together. in the last two years I’ve probably had a dozen EL’s in my hands , all FP and from 2016-2022 and over a half dozen NL’s and never seen this.
Last edited:
Stuarts vision
Well-known member
Don't be so ignorant, it's obviously a defect, and not from a bad batch.
dries1
Member
Whoaah there, careful. So thousands of NLs sold, where is the proof that the majority are having problems, excluding the folks posting on BF.
Paultricounty
Well-known member
Hmm, ignorant is not something I’ve been called to many times. And as my hands on experience might suggest exactly that of a bad batch. We could also ad my conversations with retailers that have sold hundreds of them. Just for my curiosity and to learn from one less ignorant than I, how many of these EL’s and NL’s have you handled in the last few years.
Stuarts vision
Well-known member
Swarovski have admitted they changed their armouring so it is biodegradable, have you not read this thread or just chirp in when you have a voice.
Paultricounty
Well-known member
I’ve been following the issue for over a year. biodegradable doesn’t necessarily mean they should all be peeling. Do you always join a forum and after a few weeks start having an attitude with people who have a different opinion or some other experience.
Good for you, but this is a real issue for some users.
Bottom and right are from the same batch, the other 2 are from different batches. All have been used for less than 3 years.
Paultricounty
Well-known member
No doubt a real issue. Thank you 🙏🏼
Hermann
Well-known member
I don't recall anyone claiming the majority of the owners have problems with the coating of their NLs. Also I'd be quite surprised if the majority of NL owners had a problem. My impression is that many NLs owned by the people on this forum live a sort of "sheltered life" - they are in many cases only one of several binoculars and not used all the time, in all sorts of conditions. Other NLs, however, are used a lot, many hours a day, every day. That obviously does make a huge difference.
By the way, two local birders (who are NOT on BF ...
) own NLs, 8x42 and 8x32. They are hardcore birders and use their binoculars a lot, every day. The NLs are the only binoculars they use. Both pairs look pretty worn already, with the armour beginning to show cracks under their thumbs. That's in a moderate climate. Neither uses DEET.It may be worth remembering what Swarovski says about their armour:
"The armoring on the instruments in question is made of plastic (TPU). This material contains no plasticizers or protective agents, is low in allergens, and is biodegradable. As with all our products, we recommend regularly cleaning the surface of the instrument with a mild detergent and a damp cloth.
The particular properties of this material mean that optical changes such as clear abrasion, tears, and cracks may occur in the armoring when the product is subjected to frequent use." (Quote from EL 10x42 casing deterioration.)
That last sentence says it all.
Hermann
Last edited:
Thanks for chiming in on the NLs.. i was hoping that the material has improved over time and any replacement to my EL's armour would be more durable over time.I don't recall anyone claiming the majority of the owners having problems with the coating of their NLs. Also I'd be quite surprised if the majority of NL owners had a problem. My impression is that many NLs owned by the people on this forum live a sort of "sheltered life" - they are in many cases only one of several binoculars and not used all the time, in all sorts of conditions. Other NLs are used a lot, many hours a day, every day. That obviously does make a huge difference.
By the way, two local birders (who are NOT on BF ...
Hermann
But it seems like this problem (with a non-trivial cost to get it repaired) will just recur every 2-3 years, whether it's due to humidity, temperature, DEET, etc - which are all part of the expected range of operating conditions for supposed 'alpha' no-compromise binos.
tehri
Well-known member
Crazy world where now we buy very expensive Alpha instruments, which are expected to degrade, 'to save the planet', if we use them often !!!! 🤮
Totally mad !!
Reply from Swarovski to the photo:
"Due to sweat, heat and moisture the biodegradable armouring can deteriorate.
Our Product management will surely take up this issue to work on longer lasting armouring in future.
We await your EL for repair then and do our best."
By Swarovski's own admission, the new armouring can't even hold up to "sweat, heat and moisture" and it has room for improvement to be "longer lasting".
How this got approved by their product design team, I have no idea.
"Due to sweat, heat and moisture the biodegradable armouring can deteriorate.
Our Product management will surely take up this issue to work on longer lasting armouring in future.
We await your EL for repair then and do our best."
By Swarovski's own admission, the new armouring can't even hold up to "sweat, heat and moisture" and it has room for improvement to be "longer lasting".
How this got approved by their product design team, I have no idea.
Paultricounty
Well-known member
Maybe the product team was hired by Budweiser 😆. Maybe they have some Swarovski biodegradable green duct tape, just for emergencies. Does anybody know when this lovely upgrade to the Swaro armor began?
July 2015
New Swarovski EL Binoculars Announced | Best Binocular Reviews
24th July 24, 2015 Swarovski Optik have just announced that they have updated their EL Family of binoculars, that will come to market in September 2015 in parts of Europe and sometime in November 2015 in the US and Canada. For the anything related to history of the binoculars do visit us...
www.bestbinocularsreviews.com
Recently picked up a 42mm NL Pure (offered too good a deal to pass up). Been using them as my primary glass since they arrived and while they are clearly an optical engineering marvel I’m still assessing the overall character and view. Noticed the armor feels less robust than that on my SLCs, and the lenses externally fog far more easily than any other optical device that I own. Swarovski made a number of less than widely announced materials changes over the past few years (citing environmental concerns) that have been reported to have negatively effected field performance/durability - ex, replacement of SwaroClean and replacement of the armor. Just my observation that Swarovski is not at all shy about issuing press releases and marketing campaigns heralding any and all perceived advantages their products have over the competition. This would appear to indicate they aren’t confident that these environmentally-based changes replacing proven materials are particularly advantageous.
