Replacing Truck Binos

[Remington92]

Hey all I’ve got a pair of old Vortex Viper HD 10x42 that were my first decent set of binoculars and have been my truck Binos for years now. The last couple years I haven’t been that impressed with them and just chalked it up to cheaper glass compared to other things I have now. Well I happed to look in the end of them tonight and one of the inner lenses on one side looks bubbly/wavy/ and oily. So I’m taking them to scheels to try exchanging. Now I’ve heard scheels is very good about letting you exchange them for store credit towards something else so I’m debating on a little upgrade.

These will be truck only binos (Pack/ hunting are 10x42 SLC) and has to be something scheels carry’s. Right now I’m looking at Vortex razor hd 12x50 which would be bout $600 upgrade. I don’t want to spend an outrageous amount since they are truck binos and will be subjected to heat and cold and possible theft. Anything else scheels carry’s with great warranty in that 1000-1200ish range in a 12x?

 

[PredatorSlayer]

Good luck with that one…My guess is they will point you towards Vortex and they’ll send you a replacement.

 

[SouthPaw]

If it's the older gen1 Vipers, send them in for warranty and Vortex will likely send you a new pair of Gen2s which are quite a bit better. You'll spend $0 and have new binos.

 

[Remington92]

Spoke with scheels today and they will for sure swap out or apply value to something else.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

The current razors aren’t really an upgrade to your vipers, especially for $600 out of pocket. See if they have BX4’s, they are significantly better than the vipers or razors. Other than that I’d just take the store credit to use for something else or down the road. You can get the BX4’s for $500 at euro optic.

 

[100 others]

I know Leica has taken a lashing for bad customer service in the past, but the new 10 year passport protection warranty for damage is something to think about. Scheels carries the Trinovid HD that is right in your price range.
I'm the same way for truck bino's, I want something that has great glass but also won't cost me money if it falls off the dash or if a buddy borrows and drops it on the rocks.

 

[Guer42]

I have had a pair of razor hds since they came out. The UHD are nice but not enough difference for the cost while already having HD’s.

Till someone comes out with a hi end 12x rangefinding I’ll stay with what I got. Really been a great pair of binos.

 

[mcseal2]

I've been saying for years that I'll sell my 10x Leica Geovid HD-B and Swaro SLC 15's when someone comes out with a truly great rangefinding 12x. Less to carry.

To the OP I'd consider the Sig image stabilizing 16x for truck binos. I have not tried them, but have heard great things. I could see those being awesome for that.

My truck binos are Minox 8x42's and Zeiss Terra 8x42's. The Mavens are better, but both work for truck binos. I have an old Nikon spotter on a window mount I carry under the back seat of the Suburban I usually drive for a closer view.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

What happened OP? Did they give you store credit?

 

[Happy Antelope]

Scheels just sends them back to Vortex. They likely get a truck load of damaged, used and retuned Vortex stuff a year. It's no skin off their back, you just buy another product from them so absolutely they will help.

 

[Colorado Luckydog]

Spoke with scheels today and they will for sure swap out or apply value to something else.

That's crazy good customer service. You used to get service like that at Cabelas but then Bass Pro bought them out. Now the customer service sucks. I'll be glad when they put a Scheels in the Denver area. We have a couple here but both of them are like an hour away.

 

[Remington92]

What happened OP? Did they give you store credit?

Sorry been away for a while cranking through harvest. Yup walked in told them the lens coating was flaking, they chucked them under the counter and asked if I wanted replacement or credit. I’m pretty sure it was the same amount a gave for them back in 2016 too!