One of my range friends, who has lots of fine optics, called. He told me,
"The scope you like so much."
"You mean the Swarovski z8i 2.3-18X56?"
"Yea. It's on my elk rifle. The illumination failed."
"Man that thing beat my Leupold VX-6 4-24X52, Swarovski z5 5-25X52, and Bushnell 6500 4 1/2-30X50 by twenty minutes in the low light."
"But if I can't see the reticle it's worthless. It has to go back the Germany. They told me it's going to be twelve weeks. That's gonna be close."

I hope it makes it in time for him.

We need Swarovski glass with NF mechanics.....

Or Leupold mechanics.

I thought only Leupolds went bad??

None of the Zeiss,Leupolds,or Swaro scopes have the reliability of a Nightforce or some of the high end Bushnell,or other well known tactical dialing scopes.

Since Ringman is prone to breaking scops,I would suggest a NF ATACR and weight be damned.

Could that be a March?

They are supposed to be excellent scopes,and the SF might keep you entertained.

That’s an ATACR.

I bet if it’s that important to him they would send him a loaner... my lrf needed worked on they overnighted me a loaner.. great CS

Thanks. I will let him know.

Hint ...its the illumination system not the erector system. Scope still works. Ringman I have never seen anyone have so many issues with Swarovski scopes .

Good thing you told me. I would never have figured out the erector system would still function. Do you think I could use the erector system until they repair the illumination system? I don't know
much about these things like some here do.

Time for a steel-tubed micro-trac Weaver fixed 4x scope. :-)

You need to stick to walmart bubble pack scopes. You could save us all this drama

Have your friend try a new battery. Those new fangled lighted up scopes sound like trouble to me......

If it is being sent to Germany he will have a long wait to get it back. Did you make this story up? Since when are Swarovski scopes made in Germany. You did make this up.

Theres a reason hes nicknamed "Wrongman"....

Quite a few Campfire members have never really leaned into world geography.

LOL

It's going to be A LOT MORE than 12 weeks if he is sending a Swarovski to Germany.

I nearly mentioned it too.

Break out the hip waders.....

Save the watches! Hands up!

My son said in all fairness Austria is pretty close to Germany.

I thought Swaro had a US repair facility. Can they only repair so many issues before the product needs shipped back to Austria?

In any event, Swaro makes the absolute best and clearest glass to my eye, but I have been less than impressed with the mechanics of their products, whether rifle scope, spotting scope or binocular. I've had the focus on my EL and ATM freeze solid on me...so focusing was absolutely out of the question. I have had them fog up on me. An example of one riflescope (so take that for what it's worth) would wander zero.

It's too bad because their clarity absolutely blows anything else out of the water for me, but I don't use their products in extreme weather.

None of the scopes I’ve sent them have been repaired in the US.

^^^^^^^^^

Ain't that the F'n truth.

Every Z3, Z5, and Z6 I’ve used just shooting, not abusing, has had to go back to the factory in less than 2,000 rounds. Ringman aside, they’re not robust scopes.

He tried several.

I guess I'm odd man out. All (I mean a fair number of scopes, binos, spotters) my Swaros have all excelled in their operation and yes, the glass is superb. Having said that, I've owned 3 NF scopes. 2 NXS and 1 SHV. I'm sure they were built real good but they were why too heavy for my use and their optical quality did not match their cost. Sold all three.

Interesting. I had four z5 5-25X52 and not one of them had glass as good as my Bushnell 6500 4 1/2-30X50 on an optics chart. Two were really close and two were more like my Minox. The z5 I did use because of its light weight went to service twice for the same thing: Erector replaced twice. It was a ballistic turret model.

I thought my Bushnell had glass as good as my Nightforce NXS 12-42X56 when I used to look at twigs and leaves in the trees 150 yards away. Then I used an eye chart and discovered they weren't even in the same league. Although, I will say the Nightforce fell behind the Swarovski z8i of my range friend's. Having never viewed a March I can't say if the z8i is my favorite or not. Maybe I will find a used one with the reticle I like. One can only hope at my income level.

I have had Z3's and their 30mm scopes , no issues on set and forget with the 30mm scopes ever, and one was dropped and landed on a rock and dinged the objective bell and didn't knock it out of alignment. Every Z3 with the exception of the 3-10x42 and 3-9x36 has gone tits up within 50 rounds. 7mm weatherby, 300 wsm and a scope wrecking 25-06.

Like I said. My Swarovski's have been excellent. Sent 5 into Swarovski that I purchased used and just wanted to verify everything was good before installation on a rifle and load work. Customer service was great and all were cleaned, inspected free of charge. I'm not worried about the failure "before 2,000 rounds". My Swaros are all mounted on hunting rifles and will never reach near 2,000 rounds on any individual rifle. That's a lot of shooting for a 280,7mag, 300 mag, etc. I have only one rifle that I may shoot 2,000 rounds with in my lifetime. It's chambered in .22RF.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...-would-be-best-in-low-light#Post12825075

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/5145506/Re_Exit_pupil_and_aging_eyes

^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^

My son said "in all fairness, consider the source"

I'll never trust a Swaro again...had a PH series scope fail, costing me a 6x6 whitetail pushing B&C. Shooting 8 feet to the left...at 25 or so yards. After my missed buck, I took the rifle to the range and it was off the target at 100....off the target at 50. 25 yard pistol board was an 4x8 foot sheet of plywood, I finally hit the board by holding it on the right edge of the plywood I got a group at the left edge.

I was pissed beyond words and sent it back to Swaro, who forwarded it to their overseas facility. After calling Swaro later on and checking on the repair the first words out of the guy's mouth I was speaking with in the service dept asked me, "Lemme guess...you were shooting a 300 Ultra Mag wern't you?". I was, and asked him "So what difference does that make?"...he laughed a little and changed the subject.

It finally made its way back to my house and I never even took it out of the box....it went back to the store I bought it from and was traded for a Schmidt. Prior to that I discussed the matter with two of our most knowledgeable posters on this forum, bouncing ideas off of them. Both stated that (paraphrased), Swarovski doesn't make strong scopes at all, in their opinion, and that the Schmidt would be significantly better.

The 300 Ultra beforehand had a Leupold VX-R mounted on it with zero problems. I just needed more light gathering.

That's terrible. I can see why that episode would leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Hopefully their real life's experience will catch up to their reputation and they will have to fix their designs. They should have plenty of room in their price.

Unless hunting strictly at night, and not even then for me actually, there is no need for illumination.. I have a Z with illumination, I"ve not turned that on since I got the scope as a gift.

R is... well.....

Any one trashed out an X5?

Occasionally someone will post about a scope they purchased that is blurry at the top end. I paid $750 for my first Bushnell 6500. It was blurry above 25X. I returned it for a refund. I wonder why people keep something that does not function as advertised. Seems like a waist of money. The range friend had a z6 5-30X50 he brought over to compare with my Bushnell on the deer antlers in low light. They were not as good as my 6500. After he looked through both he commented, "I always knew that one was not very good." The next I saw him it was sold. Whether hunting in day, low light, or night, why would someone pay $2,000 - $3,000 for something and settle for less than he paid for?

There has been some problems with X5’s, but that is a completely different scope and in general they work. The X5’s is what you get when Swarovski themselves tested whether the Z3/5/6’s were reliable enough for dialing.

Holy crap what a track record. Swarovski sucks and I didn't know it. Anybody want to buy a couple dozen???

shrapnel,

Scopes mounted on beautiful customs do exactly what one would expect and never fail: They look good.

What's that scope in the back, Shrap?

Older West German Zeiss Zeiss Diavari. I have about 6 of those too, but sadly they can't stay with a Bushnell optically, but you have to admit they look good on a rifle...

You have to consider the fact that your testing scopes from your bed in a Rest Home is not a real good sample to place much stock in. All of those Sako rifles have spent years on the prairie dog fields and shooting other Varmints without knowing how bad they fail. Somehow, I keep hitting the critters I shoot at and have kept track with a real clicker and count only the hits. You can't do this from your shuffleboard game room at the Senior center. Besides that, I am sure that even being careful, I spill more powder reloading than you do shooting.

This is a clicker from one day of gopher hunting this spring showing 406 confirmed gophers and 34 one shot hits of 2 or more gophers...

Yeah, no factory Sakos in that bunch. All Austrian customs. Shrap, have you ever had to send any of those scopes back to Germany?

After reading Finn Aagaard's thoughts on simple variable scopes, I wonder what he would have penned during this "modern era".

Maybe he got it mixed up with Australia!

What would he know? He was the one who spoke with them.

I think that kind of classy scope just rejects the owner....

That or Swarovski is sending all their rejects to Oregon.

This has been a fun thread, Not sure if Swarovski scopes are any good, that is still up in the air, and
we got to see Shrapnel show off.

The z8i owner this morning told me the scope arrived in Austria. They told him they are sending him a replacement. That's good customer service.
That scope is my favorite that I have looked through.

Which model-power range?

z8i 2.7-18X56

Did you notice any tunneling on lower power. If I used one it would be used on low power mostly,so the view at the lowest power matters the most to me.

I didn't get to play with it much. The owner brought his z6 5-30X50 and the z8i to compare with my 6500. We both saw the z6 was not as good and the z8i was in a class above both.

Tunnel vision doesn't bother me, though as long as the field of view is at least twenty-two feet.

Is more tunnel vision at the lowest powers still noticeable in many image-movement scopes? I find the rubber donuts add so much at all powers it can't get much worse. In the case of my Nikon Monarch 4-16x42 it actually gets better at 4x, though that's not saying much.

It used to be an issue with some old reticle-movement variables because their field blending was bliss at the higher powers but the eye relief at the lowest power lengthened to beyond the shooter's head position, leaving the eye too close to the eyepiece for best vision. Before the scope was mounted, you would naturally move the scope away from your eye, at which point no tunnel vision might be noticed at the lowest power.

I had a Kahles scope that had to go to Germany a few years ago got it back in a few weeks I sent it to Maine they handled it from there

SMFH.......

+2000

You used a 300 Ultra Mag to try to shoot a deer at 25 yrs?

Some people who don't shoot a lot need to compensate for drop..............and he was shooting at a 6 x 6!!!

Hell,the muzzle blast should have killed it.

I'm sure next time he'll try to quietly sneak 400 yards further so he can make you happy. Completely stupid post.

"Like!"

I'd feel better.

Reading the post again, it doesn't say that the buck was 25yds away, but at 25yds the scope was off about 8ft. If that is the case I stand corrected and will stop laughing.