Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Bushnell CS (again) and the Fusion 1 Mile question/query input please

Well, some here may remember me bragging on Bushnell Customer Service a couple of years ago when I bought a pair of Fusion 1600's, they quit working soon after, and Bushnell sent me a new pair with only a few days turnaround. I was pleased and enjoyed the good optics and lazer reading of this pair of binocs until very recently. Last Winter, like the first pair did, the lazer rangefining mechanicals just quit working. Would not show up no matter how many new batteries I tried, pushed the button for on, or how I held my mouth just right. They were, in a word, DUN.

Was pretty busy with health issues and staying alive for a few months there but finally got around to returning them in May. In JULY.... two months after.... I got a letter asking for a payment of $150.00 to repair thse no longer in warranty binoculars. I was not happy, at all. I waited a little bit to cool down and proccess this plus I did not have $150 for quite a while. Sold my Model 19 Smith, had a few dollars in my pocket and called them yesterday.

The first rep I got ahold of was very understanding of my dilemna and frustration. He took a few notes, went to talk to his manager and he/they offered to sell me a brand new set of the Bushnell Fusion 1 Mile LRF Binocs (which they swear do not have this recurring problem, they have discontinued the Fusion 1600's) for only the difference in price between the original cost of a Fusion 1600 and a Fusion 1 mile when they were both being sold. This amount was $380 for a new upgrade pair VS $150 for a set that I knew ha engineering issues, and I had $420 left from my handgun sale so I jumped on the offer!

Customer service there was not as lightning fast, but in the end I think they redeemed themselves reasonably well. Hopefully, I am about to recieve a pair of LRF Binocs that are reliable, rugged and dependable.

Now for my query, anyone here been using the Fusion 1 Mile Binoculars since they came out? Are they working well and turning on when they should every time? Good optics, etc?

Thank you in advance for your reply. If the Fusion 1 miles have the same tendency to fail, I should sell them without opening the box, sell some other gun(s) and try again to find a pair of used Geovids like I had when I was going to Africa and Alaska all of the time. Those things simply work. Pay once, cry once, then enjoy if you know what I mean.

I had boughten a pair of the fusion 1 mile binos off of eBay last year in October. When I got them they would not range at all. The display would come up but they would not range near or far.

So I gave Bushnell a call and talked with a nice guy in CS. All was well until I told him where I had boughten them. At that point he told me they would not warranty them beings they were purchased on eBay. It is their policy to not provide any warranty for their products that were purchased there. To say I was a little upset would be an understatement to say the least. I mean, I hadn't had them 3 days and they never did work. His advice was to return them to the guy on eBay I bought them from.

I ended up getting another pair from the seller and those worked flawless right outta the box. I sold them when I upgraded my glass this summer so I didn't have a whole lot of use with them. I can't tell you about the longevity of them but I did find it interesting in Bushnells CS policy. That said enough to me that I won't be using them in the future. Just something to think about with them. A guy needs to be careful of warranty claims even if they are brand new.

Reno

Thank you for your reply and input. At this stage, being broke etc. I will give these a try this year and go from there. Kinda stuck with that plan for now. I guess that since this is a brand new pair of Binocs, and I will have a fresh new warranty card to send in, I will have another two year "limited" warrany on these. Will try to upgrade/replace them before that runs out.

The optics on my old Fusions were great, if these are as good, and work for two years, I am golden.

Anyone else have any experience with the Fusion 1 Mile version?

Run away fast as your legs will carry you!

I had three pair in 5 weeks all brand new all failed in some way. Optics were great on pair one. Laser no good.

After that the replacements were worse and worse. Another friend of mine who visits this site frequently had two pair and both failed him as well.

I bought Leica Geovids refurb for about twice the price and they are built Leica tough and work 100% flawless every time.

I'll not buy any kind of technology from Bushnell again. The Game cameras were just as bad. The frustration over these brand new 1 Mile Fusion glasses was not worth the savings over the Leica Refurbished glasses.

I remember you sharing this with me last fall, when my 1600's went bad. No can do on the Lieca's right now but hopefully soon. Maybe these new ones are better, kinda like the first release of a new gun or car has bugs that get worked out. I can only hope.... Stuck with them for this fall, in all liklihood.

New binocs just arrived, have to hope for the best with them and use them at least through deer season.

Repeatedly taking a bite of a schit sandwich is not a good approach to finding a better tasting solution.

I'd put the new ones up for sale, cut your losses, and invest elsewhere.

Sounds to me like they don't have the bugs worked out yet.

I don't like or trust Bushnell products just based on my experience and those guys who I have hunted with - there are some staunch Bushnell defenders here on the campfire I found out. Selling them in new condition with a clear conscience sounds like good advice to me.

Sending checks to people who sold you poor quality equipment doesn't seem like the market is working as it should but since you already are committed all you can do is make sure to stay on top of them during the short warranty period.

I like the idea of range finding binos but pairing electronics that fail and are rapidly obsolete with optics that should last decades doesn't seem like the right mix for me.

safariman,

How much did you spend on the first pair that broke? The second pair were their replacement, right?

Add the $380 you just spent on pair number three (in three years?) to that original tally.

How close would that total get you to Geovids or Swaro or Zeiss BLRs?

Are you really going to trust a company that has a horrible reputation for quality and CS, that has already sent you two bad pairs, that has reneged on their lifetime warranty once?

If you, you don't sound broke. You sound rich, because only a rich man spends money on stuff that he knows or ought to know he'll have to replace and especially that will be used for trips that only come along when he can afford them.

Good advice here, much thanks.

The ones that came yesterday are my old one's. They are still better than decent binoculars, maybe I can sell them really cheap to help with the cost of an upgrade.

To answer the question proffered, I paid IIRC about $600-650 for the original binocs. Ad $380 to that and I am in these new ones about $1,000.00 or so. Still a very long ways away from even a used pair of Leica Geovids from what I have seen. I have not looked in a while, though.

The only way I can get into the better LRF binocs that I can see is to sell these new Bushnell's, then also sell my 329PD for the additional cash needed. I would really hate to do that, but I might. Thinkin on it.

I only use these for a few days a year during deer season as my elk hunting is on hold until post kidney transplant. The deer hunting around here can be done from a 4 wheeler and I have the permit to do just that i.e. disabled hunter plaque. The 329PD 44 Magnum is one of my favorite handguns that I use often.

Maybe the Bushnells will be OK for a little time as I use them, until I am on the mend down the road someday soon I hope.

Anyone want to trade me a pair of Bushnell 1 mile fusions for one of thier kidneys?

This is bad news, and as recommended I would quickly sell
these new ones, and move on.

There are lots of binoculars and rangefinders. Trying to
make both work together is not easy. Bushnell is average
with both, so the experiment with this concept seems to
be one to avoid.

On the topic of bad, you should have seen the one's Leupold tried to build and sell a few years ago. ICKY! I bought a pair, tried them out for one day and they were awful in every regard. I have not seen a pair on the market for quite a long time. Maybe they will try again some day but if Leupold could not pull it off, this sure tells me that very few companies can do it and do it well and correctly.

If I were you I would sell them and roll the funds into a Zeiss 8x26 PRF or Leica CRF rangefinder. Either one of those and a set of binoculars would be a step up from what you currently have.

The only all-in-one rangefinder binoculars on the market worth a damn are from the Big 3 (Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss). Everything else IMHO is a turd.

Man, I HAD the Leica Geovids, 10x42, and had to sell them during tough times a few years ago. Same-same with my 329PD, 7mm Mashburn and other nice stuff. Slowly getting them all back now. Maybe I just use the Bushy's until I have enough dough to replace the Leica's I used to have. What wonderful instraments they were! No way to get those right now, and I am pretty spoiled now on having my binoc and LRF all in one package. On a moving animal having to use two pieces of equipment can put a critter out of decent range, IME.

I still have not heard form anyone except JJHack who has actually used one of these 1 mile Busnell's yet. Anyone here actually have some hands on experience with one for more than a couple of weeks?

How many people do you need to hear it from before you will understand that these Bushnell fusions suck. Seriously, cut your losses because if you open the box they will be depreciated to the point of being worthless

Sell them and then go buy a quality pair of binoculars. The new Meopta HD's are fantastic and they won't depreciate like the Bushnell's will

Tough to watch guys ask for advice on a subject and then completely ignore it and make a brain dead decision

It appears that unless the advice is exactly what safariman wants to hear, he will disregard it and keep asking the question until someone tells him what he wants to hear in the first place to justify whatever action he has already determined to be the one he wants to take.

True!

I just went to cameraland's website and posted links to a bunch of high end glass that's been discounted and then my phone reset my message I was typing. Nuts and bolts, you can get some absolutely fantastic binos for what you could sell those Fusions for. With as much horse trading as you do you should definitely do this and come out way ahead vs keeping those fusions

Ha! Perfect! I might need to get that put on a T-shirt.