the x-factor
One of the X factors facing a purchaser of the latest and greatest mid range binoculars is the instrument' s mechanical reliability. Optical glass is pretty darn durable, but a great deal of trust is placed in the rest of the pieces that make up the whole. Perhaps I'm becoming more skeptical as I age, but I think some real mechanical junk is being passed off as quality stuff. These Johnny come lately manufacturers are in it for the short haul. Their life time guarantees mean nothing when they are no longer in business.
John
Okay, I hate to admit it, but I'm becoming an "old fart" too, though I hope I won't become "stuck in my ways" like my father, who has eaten the same thing for breakfast for the past 20 years!
When one enters "old fartdom" there is a tendency to reminiscence about ye olde days and to romanticize about how "they sure don't make 'em like they used to". Of course, if you're talking about porros, that's irrefutable.
My dad had a '55 Chevy, and it was almost as unreliable as my Saab (now defunct along with the company that made it), and neither vehicle was anywhere nearly as reliable as my 1986 Honda Civic, which was a Johnny-Come-Lately, New Kid in Town, at least relative to GM, which had been around since 1908. I used to work at a Chevy dealership and some of the early 1990s models weren't much better than their '50s cars in terms of reliability. I remember recall after recall after recall.
I also remember what people used to say about the "Made in Japan" Toyota and Honda cars in the 1970s - "a piece of junk" - a "death trap". Well, up until recently when Toyota decided it wanted to become GM (it did surpass GM in sales, but it paid a steep "price" for that dubious distinction), it was the most reliable car line in the world and also rated high in safety. Honda was chipping away at its h
eels and overtook Toyota in reliability and safety ratings.
I don't know how many "Johnny-Come-Lately" "Made in China" optics companies will be around in 30 years, and when I'm in the nursing home, I'm not sure I will care or remember that I even bought a Zen Ray bin, but I can say that when I had a ZR part fail, it was promptly replaced with a new, improved unit.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Swaro recently announce that it's only going to stock parts for 10 years? So if your new Swarovision breaks down in 11 years, they aren't going to repair it, they will replace it with their latest Swaroxrayvision.
Can I say the same for the "Johnny-Come-Lately" company? In 11 years, will they repair or replace my ZR ED2 with an ED7? I couldn't say, not being able to channel the ghost of Jeanne Dixon, but while I don't consider ZR's disposable items, if they do go belly up after Chinese labor organizes and they can no longer remain competitive with the Japanese, at least I'm not out $2,400.
You make a valid point, but for me, I think the skepticism is tempered by the "bang for the buck" factor of the "Johnny-Come-Latelys".
Would I buy a Nikon 7x42 EDG if I had deep pockets? You betcha, but until my pockets are jingle jangling with gold doubloons, the 7x36 ED2 will do me just fine. And if I do manage to climb back up the corporate ladder again and can afford an EDG, there are plenty of people behind me on the lower rungs ready to buy Chinese ED bins.
"Johnny's" sales might fall off a bit after the recovery (which will probably be very slow). However, having proven to that other "Johnny" (John Q. Public), that he can buy quality optics for an affordable price (even if the mechanics are not on par with the best), I can't see the now better informed and still financially cautious consumers flocking to the Big Three in droves.
What Bauhaus was to architecture, Zen Ray is to binoculars, the proletariat, anti-bourgeoisie "People's Binoculars."
Given the current world financial situation, with nearly 200 million people unemployed and about the same number underemployed, living on the margins, the timing of the Chinese Optics Revolution couldn't have been better. I liken it to the Japanese Auto Invasion during the gas crises of the 1970s, and we know what happened to those companies.
Food for thought... with a Fortune Cookie.
