Poll - Trying to get some numbers on Swarovski rubber armour issues. (1 Viewer)

[Dr. K]

Photos of ELs belonging to me and other birders locally

WOW - I would be VERY upset! I have a pair of 3yr old EL32s and 1.5yr old NL32s and have never had an issue with the rubber.

 

[dorubird]

What catches our attention is the fact that the binoculars look flawless, which is very normal because it was used with care and attention. It practically looks like new out of the box!



But the only exception is that big crack!!! This exception confirms that it is an engineering design problem and not due to improper and abusive use by the owners! And when you put our hand on binoculars, we notice that it is sticky everywhere there is rubber (armor, eyecup rubbers, lens caps)

 

[Richard D]

I'd send them off for the armour replacement

 

[MiddleRiver]

In the world of sustainable design, there is a term and concept know as ‘cradle-to-cradle’. It makes no sense to promote ‘green’ solutions that in that CtoC analysis create other environmentally costly consequences. I have to assume that Swarovski tried a new formulation (and I applaud them for that) which they’re urgently trying to ‘fix’. It does sound like a PR failure in their not just dealing with it a little more transparently ;-)

 

[teelgul]

Just got the ATC ,the Orange colour. Colour is fine but the focuser rubber a bit loose or raised in the edge. It may be nothing but as i saw this thread about armour issues thought best to highlight it here.
Cheers

 

[Bramberg]

Photos of ELs belonging to me and other birders locally

Wow, that's pretty extreme degradation. I know that there is a lot of products that can cause this to rubberized materials, such as sunscreen, gun oil, deodorants and many more. Do you use any product that gets on your hands and then later ends up on your binoculars perhaps?

 

[dorubird]

The problem that generates this degradation is the chemical formula of the Swarovski armor itself!

 

[SGBirder]

Wow, that's pretty extreme degradation. I know that there is a lot of products that can cause this to rubberized materials, such as sunscreen, gun oil, deodorants and many more. Do you use any product that gets on your hands and then later ends up on your binoculars perhaps?

Swarovski have said that it's their environmentally friendly new armour material that's at fault, and are working on a new material.

 

[teelgul]

The armour used in ATC looks very grainy...porous...something that can just disintegrate with time. I raised the loose rubber issue with Swarovski and they replied that it was acceptable under their quality checks!!

 

[Bramberg]

Swarovski have said that it's their environmentally friendly new armour material that's at fault, and are working on a new material.

Of course an armor should withstand all sorts of use and even a great deal of abuse. In this case it obviously doesn't. I was just thinking that there might be some products you could try to avoid getting on your binoculars to prolong the life of the armor. This is the reason that I asked.
Some people (me included) have no problem at all with deteriorating armor and some (like in your case) has severe degradation. Either the armor is different or the reason for severe degradation is an outside factor. The reason for the accellerated degradation could be acidic sweat, sunscreen, oils or other chemicals.

I have had this happen to the rubberized shoulder pad on some rifles. It's a somewhat common issue with some materials because the metal parts need something the keep rust away. This is usually some kind of oil, more typically synthetic oil. Even though it's a tiny amount that won't run it will still spread through the air from condensation. I fact, old clock makers and restorers actually used this effect to lube the internal mechanics by simply placing a little tray with oil on it inside the cleaned clockwork.

As mentioned; oils, petroleum products and other chemicals can certainly accelerate the degradation of rubberized materials. Even cooking oils do this. Some fabrics will gass off and can also cause this degradation.

I don't think there's an excuse to this happening to a supposedly top-quality product. But since it does happen, this might be something to consider.

 

[SGBirder]

Of course an armor should withstand all sorts of use and even a great deal of abuse. In this case it obviously doesn't. I was just thinking that there might be some products you could try to avoid getting on your binoculars to prolong the life of the armor. This is the reason that I asked.
Some people (me included) have no problem at all with deteriorating armor and some (like in your case) has severe degradation. Either the armor is different or the reason for severe degradation is an outside factor. The reason for the accellerated degradation could be acidic sweat, sunscreen, oils or other chemicals.

I have had this happen to the rubberized shoulder pad on some rifles. It's a somewhat common issue with some materials because the metal parts need something the keep rust away. This is usually some kind of oil, more typically synthetic oil. Even though it's a tiny amount that won't run it will still spread through the air from condensation. I fact, old clock makers and restorers actually used this effect to lube the internal mechanics by simply placing a little tray with oil on it inside the cleaned clockwork.

As mentioned; oils, petroleum products and other chemicals can certainly accelerate the degradation of rubberized materials. Even cooking oils do this. Some fabrics will gass off and can also cause this degradation.

I don't think there's an excuse to this happening to a supposedly top-quality product. But since it does happen, this might be something to consider.

Swarovski's own reply to another user, who posted in another thread here.

It's not the chemicals, but environmental factors (temperature, UV, heat) that the material cannot withstand.

Swaro reply:
The armouring material of Swarovski binos was changed 2015 with the new FP series due to environmental, cosmetic and allergic reasons.
The new material is - on a long term perspective - biodegradable. The new NL armouring is made out of the same material.
In general the new material overall has a better resistance and performance (Temperature, UV, humidity, abrasion) than the old one of the SV, but if it deteriorates, its damage behavior differs from the older material - due to the biodegradability. The old material blisterd the new gets softer and softer until it tears.
Prolongation of the armouring is possible if you apply a good cleaning and treatment of it, like for instance for leather. For the rare case of deterioration we offer a free replacement.

 

[Bramberg]

Swarovski's own reply to another user, who posted in another thread here.

It's not the chemicals, but environmental factors (temperature, UV, heat) that the material cannot withstand.

Swarovski writes:

"Prolongation of the armouring is possible if you apply a good cleaning and treatment of it, like for instance for leather."

So there is probably some foreign substances that can accelerate the breakdown of the armor (since environmental factors such as temperature and UV light can't be cleaned off).

This would also explain why some binoculars don't show any signs of deterioration and some deteriorate quickly. Luckily, they say that they offer a free replacement in case of deterioration and from my own experience with them I don't doubt that they do.