Several a years ago my lovely wife bought me a pair of Steiner 8x30 binoculars for Christmas. I wasn't real excited about them. I had a small pair of Zeiss 8x30 that I liked just fine. Then I started using the Steiner's for hunting gophers in Montana. They were great. The lens coating they use is supposed to give you better contrast to see animals in the wild. Working side by side with the Zeiss you could see a difference, but it wasnt that significant.
What I did notice about the Steiner's was they stayed focused. You adjusted each eyepiece for your eyes and they were in focus everytime you picked them up. Better yet I didnt have to take my glasses off to use them.
Then one day I dropped them off the dashboard onto the floor of the truck and stripped the eyepiece out. They were under warranty so I sent them off to Steiner for repair. Got them back and started using them again. First thing I noticed was that the repaired eyepiece didnt hold the focus as well as they had before. It wasnt quite as stiff. Well they were repaired.
I hunted with them for the next two years. The eye adjustment kept getting looser and loose until they just would not stay focused at all.
I sent them back to Steiner for out of warranty repair. I got their estimate back and it was $125 for repair. About what I expected.
They also offered trade in program. For about $150 I could get a new set of the same binocular.
I decided to do a little negotiating. I sent a letter explaining the previous warranty repairs and sent them a copy of the original warranty repair invoice. Monday I go my binoculars back. Well thats not correct, Monday I got a brand new set of Binoculars.
Lessons learned. Save your records. Try to negotiate. Dont put your Binoculars on the dashboard!
Thanks Steiner!!!
