I generally buy Swarovski or Leica. I have been leaning to Swarovski because they had better customer service. So is this true? Is Leica better or worse on warranty service?
Worse. In the past much worse. Doug has mentioned several times Leica is attempting to improve. With apologies to Doug, Leica has said that before. I'm taking a wait and see approach. Having said that, a Leica RF is on my short list. If you buy Leica, buy it from Doug, CameralandNY has the chutzpah to get the manufactures attention........
Swarovski made an effort to have a significant presence in North America, and 15+ years ago built a full blown repair center with the ability to repair all of the products sold in North America and some of the their European products. After the war, Swaro started an update program in part to distinguish themselves from Zeiss and Leica. When possible, Swaro will replace older optics with newer, improved parts and in some cases (such as the 30mm SLC's) design and manufacture improved parts when they run out of the old parts. I don't know of any other foreign optics manufacturer that has the former on the scale that Swaro has, or does the latter.
If you want a No Fault, No Whine warranty, buy Vortex, Athalon, and maybe a couple others.
