Shot Out to Optics Trade Eu - Buy with Confidence

[CajunNavy337]

Optics Trade is completely legit. After a few emails with them, I just ordered a kahles Helia S 8x42 binocular on 03/10/23 and it was delivered on 03/16/23. I went with the $134 UPS Exp with custom fees which is a actually a great deal. For example, if I purchased this set locally at their sale price ($1,299), total with taxes would have been roughly $1,430. So essentially the shipping was free. Great dealing with them.

On the Kahles Helia S bino, these are the same as the Swarovski SLC. A friend of mine has a SLC 8x42 and we compared them for a long time at dusk yesterday. We could not find any difference other than the armor.

 

[Macintosh]

Will the US organization of Khales honor the warranty on a product purchased in europe?

 

[Reed104R]

This is great information. I assume Kahles is actually producing these binoculars in a separate facility.

 

[CajunNavy337]

Will the US organization of Khales honor the warranty on a product purchased in europe?

Good question. I have not asked that question or registered, so I don't know. I find it hard to believe they would not. It's the same product regardless of where it was purchased.

 

[Macintosh]

many independent distributor companies dont--its their profit margin that pays for the local warranty service, and they didnt get any of it, so if they can avoid it they wont honor the warranty. it also isnt always the same product--I imagine in this case tht is not relevant, but in some products it definitely is. Example, company I used to work for made electronic safety equipment that was required by law to operate on a different frequency than in EU, we weren't able to provide warranty service because we were literally barred from owning the equipment to service the EU product, even though they looked identical and were compatible in use, and EU retailers kept selling them into the US. That's all getting a bit harder with global 2-day shipping or whatever it is, but something to keep in mind if you buy from outside the US.

 

[CajunNavy337]

This is great information. I assume Kahles is actually producing these binoculars in a separate facility.

These are labeled made in Austria. They will also accept a tripod stud 1/4x20 from the outdoorsmans.

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[CajunNavy337]

many independent distributor companies dont--its their profit margin that pays for the local warranty service, and they didnt get any of it, so if they can avoid it they wont honor the warranty. it also isnt always the same product--I imagine in this case tht is not relevant, but in some products it definitely is. Thats all getting a bit harder with global 2-day shipping or whatever it is, but something to keep in mind if you buy from outside the US.

Well since I could find anyone in the US that sells these, I went this route. The point of this post was to help those who are thinking about purchasing from Optics trade.

Off course it’s not the same product, but we could not see a difference in the glass and how they optically performed.


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[Valumpessa]

Good info, and glad it worked out for you. I'm interested in Kahles too. Were you able to find out any info on their warranty?

 

[CajunNavy337]

Good info, and glad it worked out for you. I'm interested in Kahles too. Were you able to find out any info on their warranty?

Yes I did. Optics trade will handle warranty claims. So I had a problem with the binos, I would send them to Optics trade and they would handle the warranty claim with Kahles for me.

 

[10ringer]

Good info, and glad it worked out for you. I'm interested in Kahles too. Were you able to find out any info on their warranty?

I spoke with a Swarovski service representative, and they said yes Kahles warranty is 100% covered by Swarovski USA. You register the kahles at the Swarovski website, just as you would any pair of swaros.

 

[Matt Cashell]

I spoke with a Swarovski service representative, and they said yes Kahles warranty is 100% covered by Swarovski USA. You register the kahles at the Swarovski website, just as you would any pair of swaros.

I would advise caution on that. They were probably unaware this binocular was purchased through the gray market.

Swarovski USA does distribute some Kahles optics in the USA and warranties those, but they do not distribute this binocular in the US, that I am aware of.

If they do warranty gray market purchases, that would be generous, given Swarovski USA did not make any money on the purchase.

I suspect that is why the gray market seller said they would handle the warranty.

 

[HuntingProf]

I would advise caution on that. They were probably unaware this binocular was purchased through the gray market.

Swarovski USA does distribute some Kahles optics in the USA and warranties those, but they do not distribute this binocular in the US, that I am aware of.

If they do warranty gray market purchases, that would be generous, given Swarovski USA did not make any money on the purchase.

I suspect that is why the gray market seller said they would handle the warranty.

I recently purchased multiple pairs of the Helia S from optics trade (great shop), and had one sent in to Swarovski for warranty repair of a sticky focuser. The rep at Swarovski North America (SONA) had me go through the warranty process just as if I’d purchased the binos in the U.S.

They processed my request, then sent the binos to Austria for service. I received them back in about 6 weeks, perfectly smooth and cleaned. They are currently registered as mine on the SONA webpage, with serial number and information on where I purchased them.

At no point in the process did anyone act like there was anything wrong. My binos were serviced by Swarovski under full warranty.

This makes sense to me, as there is nothing wrong with buying a pair of binos from an authorized dealer while on vacation on another continent. I think it’s particularly non-problematic, because SONA’s policy is to send Kahles products to Austria for warranty service.