Brunton Icon or Swaro

[cmusick]

So guys I'm looking at getting a new spotter and Im thinking the Brunton Icon simply because they have an outstanding warranty, repair or replace for the life the spotter no questions asked. So far they have been a great company to deal with. I have a couple of their binos.
My question is, is it worth paying a grand more for a warranty, prob not? How is swaro's warranty shop? Does anyone have any experience with that.
Also Im looking for input if you guys were gonna drop this kind of money on a spotter what would you get?
thanks for your thoughts

 

[bbrown]

I have heard good things about Swaro's warranty but never used personally. I'm not sure which model but Camofire had a version of the Brunton on there yesterday I think for like $1k off - might be worth giving them a call to find out which model and if they have any left.

 

[todd kelly]

As for Swaros warranty, second to none. I accidentally broke the ballistic turret on my Z5 rifle scope. I sent an email to Swaro explaining that I broke the BT and that I wanted to buy a new piece to fix it. Within 2 hours I had a reply from them stating that they had already put the new piece in the mail and it was on its way. 2 days later it showed up to my house in Canada. They air mailed it to me free of charge.

 

[dotman]

Doesn't the Brunton weigh like 10lbs vs the swaro 3-4lbs.

 

[armyjoe]

Swaro. No question about it

 

[fillthefreezer]

^yeah that

 

[cmusick]

Correction on that I think most of you picked up on it but I meant Epoch spotting scope from brunton. If Swaro has a no nonsense warranty then that is just one more thing in their favor! Last year I had a cheaper spotter and the glass separated inside the eyepiece on the first day of my sheep hunt. Not to worry I still got the full curl but will never make the mistake of buying cheaper glass again. They said it was a factory defect. That being said once that spotter comes back from the warranty shop ill have a Bushnell for sale. Any takers??? Hopefully ill pull the trigger on a new spotter here soon, just in time for spring bear! thanks for your replies and help.

 

[sneaky]

Doesn't the Brunton weigh like 10lbs vs the swaro 3-4lbs.

Which Brunton are you talking about? I've had hands on several and none of them weighed that much. Glass was just as clear as the Swaros I've used before, but I'm pretty certain that the majority of the replies here will go towards Swaro, and nothing wrong with that. I tend to try and support US-based companies as much as I can, but that's just me.

 

[goatboy]

Swaro will fix or replace ANYTHING! If it's old and beat up it might cost a bit (think tens not hundreds) but it will come back looking like new and if its new there is usually no charge.

 

[Ryan Avery]

Looked through both of them and would take the swaro. The Brunton scope is very nice just a bit on the heavy side.

 

[dotman]

Which Brunton are you talking about? I've had hands on several and none of them weighed that much. Glass was just as clear as the Swaros I've used before, but I'm pretty certain that the majority of the replies here will go towards Swaro, and nothing wrong with that. I tend to try and support US-based companies as much as I can, but that's just me.

The 80mm Icon was 70oz without eyepiece, so yes not 10lbs (was joking) but the ones I looked at previously were heavier then most. I do wonder if they hold their value, i see the discontinued icons Binos are now 50% off and I believe the epoch is the icon just renamed due to a legal issue.

I may be wrong, just going off of what I remember when talking to brunton this time last year when the epoch release was delayed because they were late in shipping from overseas but again just going off of memory so I could be way wrong. Have to admit haven't looked at them since then so maybe things changed in weight.

 

[60x]

Guiding sheep I used to be pretty tough on my binos. On a sheep hunt I broke on side of the tubes on the binos. I had another hunt scheduled in a couple days so I called swarovski. They had be overnight binos. Fixed them and overnighted them back. No charge. That was 10 years ago and I never forgot it. For that reason as well as arguably being the best glass out there all my glass is swarovski. They are second to none!!!

 

[handwerk]

swaro

 

[JJHACK]

You know the value difference looking thru them

You REALLY know the value difference 15 years from now when you need service

Swarovski wins that hands down.

I spoke to the Swarovski rep here at length. The conversation went into an unusual direction. The improvement in optics is getting smaller every year. The improvement in electronics is getting bigger every year

The future of optics is electronic stabilization of the image. We have reached a point going forward with minimal improvements using just the glass, coatings, and prisms!