What happened to Zeiss?

L

lwing

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First zeiss purchase, bought some used 15x conquest binos, small broken screw, thought I would mess with it, decided not to as didn't want to screw warranty, sent them in, 8 months later after numerous emails and phone calls get a replacement pair.
Thanks
Within 2 months both eye pieces cracked about a month apart, makes them very difficult to use, called, emailed, last two calls not returned, eight months later still waiting, alpha German glass with cheap low budget warranty/customer service? Pretty much rather have a lower end bino that at least I could use without having to ##### with them every time I raised them to my eyes.
How frustrating to have that much money out on glass when there's guys running around with there cheap Chinese binos laughing at my alpha glass?
People complain about some companies no fault, no question warranty, at least they don't have to deal with all this ridiculous crap,
I have to stop writing as I'm just getting more pissed, hunting season few days away and I'll be using my cheap Chinese binos that just plain work, even after the company went out of business,,, ##### me
 
My vortex mono at $100 is a cheap optic, $1400 conquest binos would be a mid to high tier optic in my mind, $5000+ optics are more of a god tier level lol

Regardless, their warranty response is shocking to say the least, I've always held zeiss in high regard, maybe not so much after hearing this

bearkilr said:
Zeiss Conquest isn't "alpha" glass. Buy the Victory line and you won't have issues. The Conquest line was made for the North American market to compete with cheap optics.
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hutchster said:
My vortex mono at $100 is a cheap optic, $1400 conquest binos would be a mid to high tier optic in my mind, $5000+ optics are more of a god tier level lol

Regardless, their warranty response is shocking to say the least, I've always held zeiss in high regard, maybe not so much after hearing this
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Price doesn't always dictate quality. The Conquest line was Zeiss' entry level line, they've since introduced the Terra line for even less, so naturally prices on the Conquest have gone up, but not necessarily the quality.
You're paying for the Zeiss name, no doubt, that's why I stay away from their low end stuff. I'm not saying they're the best out there, but I've had a few of their binos and still have a near 40 yr old set of 8x30 Classic as my truck ones and they've never failed. I also have two Diavari scopes that are 25+ years old that have never skipped a beat.

As for their warranty, I can't comment, as I've never had to use it, and quite honestly don't see many threads on here about it. Vortex on the other hand could have its own warranty forum.
 
You make your brand by selling quality goods backed up with good service. Then when it's established the accountants and marketing whizz-kids take over, degrading the quality, maintaining hype to just sell the brand.
 
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Not Alpha glass? In a 15x bino I'm happy with the glass, comes with a alpha price at $2600, you'd think there'd be some customer support, Im trying not to buy anything from China anymore. I'm gonna have to look, these eye ups feel like a Chinese product
 
Enjoyed a Zeiss Conquest 4-16x44 on a 1900 actioned Husky...made many, many incredible looooong range game-in-freezer shots with that scope.
No complaints.
Got my money out of it in a quick sale when I moved on...
 
So you purchased used bino's and they had a broken screw? Sounds like they were used for a reason. As to turn around time, wouldn't Covid have been spooling up around that time frame? I know most companies I deal with for work that are usually a 2-3 day response/turn around have turned into 1-2 week response/turn around companies. Most of the companies I deal with have been reduced to skeleton crews from the beginning so you have 1/2 to 1/3 the staff doing the job of full staffing. Very infuriating with farming/breakdowns.

As to Zeiss themselves I have only had 4 of their products so far. 3x Conquest rifle scopes(early 2000's) and one Varipoint. All have been flawless, I'm currently looking at replacing my Nikon binos and Leupold Spotting scope with SOMETHING from their lineup. .
 
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Don’t think you read title. What has happened to zeiss
Old stuff good, new stuff feels like fisher price
Issues started long before coivid if you did the math.
I’d buy old zeiss, new stuff is a whole different level of quality,
Old zeiss was lifetime warranty, new is 5 years I believe. Go ahead and waste your money based on product from 20 years ago that was awesome. I’d handle there new product first, or go ahead, I’ve been a fan boy of products before, untill I learned, business today is cut corners make more money, screw the consumer, zeiss has officially jumped on board
 
bearkilr said:
Price doesn't always dictate quality. The Conquest line was Zeiss' entry level line, they've since introduced the Terra line for even less, so naturally prices on the Conquest have gone up, but not necessarily the quality.
You're paying for the Zeiss name, no doubt, that's why I stay away from their low end stuff. I'm not saying they're the best out there, but I've had a few of their binos and still have a near 40 yr old set of 8x30 Classic as my truck ones and they've never failed. I also have two Diavari scopes that are 25+ years old that have never skipped a beat.

As for their warranty, I can't comment, as I've never had to use it, and quite honestly don't see many threads on here about it. Vortex on the other hand could have its own warranty forum.
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Zeiss Conquest 10x42 binos

Had them 3 or 4 years now in the truck. Excellent glass to me. They weren't cheap either. LOL.
They are labelled Made In Germany. I have no idea where the glass is from. They look and feel like quality.
Maybe I'm just dumb.

I agree they are not the Victory line.
 
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NorthernCX said:
No, that was the Terra line, now pretty much discontinued.
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The original Conquest was Zeiss' made for North America "cheap" line. I still recall the 3-9x40 for $499 or less.

NorthernCX said:
As I understand it, Zeiss owns Hensoldt....
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They don't anymore, and rifle scopes are an insignificant product of theirs.

sask378 said:
Zeiss Conquest 10x42 binos

Had them 3 or 4 years now in the truck. Excellent glass to me. They weren't cheap either. LOL.
They are labelled Made In Germany. I have no idea where the glass is from. They look and feel like quality.
Maybe I'm just dumb.

I agree they are not the Victory line.
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Absolutely good glass, and I didn't mean to imply they are garbage like cheap Bushnell or Tasco.
I remember reading that some of the Zeiss glass was made by Meopta, which is kind of a sleeper brand for awesome optics. I have a Meopta Meostar scope which rivals the top brands for a fraction of the price.
 
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I fully agree - Zeiss's quality is most definitely NOT what it used to be - and the other problem, is you're dealing with an AGENT (Gentec) if/when you have issues. 2 years in a row at SHOT SHOW they had failing products on their display stand. A pair of Zeiss Victory SF bino's on display where the focus wheel was just spinning freely, and a Zeiss Harpia 95 spotter where the magnicfication "ring" was spinning around without changing mag, and quite severe backlash on the focus ring....

Buy a Swaro product, and should you have an issue, you deal with Swaro directly, not with a middleman company.... Just my 2c.
 
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