Warranty and grey market question.

cedarhacker · Jun 27, 2005

I need some help figuring out the warranties available on Leica, Swarovski and Zeiss spotting scopes. I'm thinking about biting the big bullet and finally treating myself to a REAL spotting scope. I've looked through all the posts here on MM and have been watching scopes on ebay and am unclear about the warranties that these scopes have.

I'm not sure what a grey market scope is but I think it must be a scope sold at a discount but doesn't have a warranty. I've seen in some of your posts that warranties from the dealers apparently are good only to the person who buys the scope from a retail dealer, but I have seen at least one add on ebay that clams the warranty on a Swarovski scope they are selling is transferable.

Could you guys set me straight on this warranty business. Buying one of these scopes takes some pretty serious cash for me and I want to be sure I'm going to get a good legitimite warranty. Thanks.

Anaconda · Jun 27, 2005

Gray market optics usually means optics that were built for sale in Europe, where the warrantys are very different. These "Europen" warrantys will only be honored in Europe, and are usually have a time limit, like 10 or 20 years, and probably do not cover accidental damage, unlike the american, lifetime/no fault warrantys. If your "Gray market" optics fail, you must send them back to the factory in Germany. The shipping and insurance ( both ways )could cost more than the amount you saved, and take several months to get them back.

Chad · Jun 28, 2005

talked with the folks at Zeiss and they told me as long as thier name was on it the would warranty it mo questions asked.
I thought that was awesome!

quickdrawkinker · Jun 29, 2005

Chad, just to clearify--is Zies claiming that they don't treat Gray Market any differently?? If that's the case, I'm buying a Zies! Yes, this is a serious question.. Thanks.

Foreman4x4 · Jun 29, 2005

I'd suggest you contact Zeiss about their warranty and "grey market" goods. The one thing I know for sure is they're the only one of the big three (Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski) whose warranty is fully transferable. I understand in the real world that Swarovski is decent to work with second owners, but will not warranty any "grey market" goods, at least according to their web-page.

Leica's warranty is non-transferable and they won't cover anything if you don't have the USA warranty card registered in your name. It ticks me off to no end that Leica charges what they do, but they won't stand behind their product if they'r epurchased used. It'd be nice if they were more like Leupold, Zeiss, etc..

opportunist · Jun 29, 2005

Leica is in some financial trouble. If you are buying mega dollar glass, I would look elseware until they get their business back on track. It would suck to spend $1,500 on a scope and have the company go under next year.

Foreman4x4 · Jun 29, 2005

LAST EDITED ON Jun-29-05 AT 02:51PM (MST)[p]From what I understand, Leica is in trouble because they've been slow at developing and promoting their digital cameras. I imagine they'll "restructure" and come out fine. The worst case scenerio I see is the sport optics division being sold, because I can't imagine they're not profitable.

Two more days and they're gonna raise their prices across the board, so I can't believe they're too worried. Anyone thinking about buying Leica binos, spotters, or rangefinders better do it tomorrow!

cedarhacker · Jun 29, 2005

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I've got a better handle on it now. Way I see it, as far as warranties go, from best to worst it's Zeiss, Swarovski then Leica. (Assuming all three honor their warranties equally well).

I hate to see Leica at the bottom of my list as that was the scope I have been leaning towards and now that they are kicking up the price a good bit, well.....

Anyway, thanks for the help.

Anaconda · Jul 1, 2005

Cedarhacker, It depends on how you look at it, but I think Leica has the best warrantie, followed by Swarovski, and Zeiss last of these three.
Leica is the only one that spells it out "Lifetime/no fault".
Swarovski has a good reputation for standing behind their product no matter what happens or who owns them, as long as they were sold by a U.S.A. dealer, but with Leica, you have it in writting. Leica is NOT transferable, but they still have very high resale prices, and why would you ever want to sell a pair of Ultravids ?