I had such positive experiences with the Burris scopes that I owned I would not have thought that Burris would have treated you that way. Considering what is at stake you would think that unless there were signs of " apparent" abuse that they would have resolved the problem and insured a " satisfied customer" ! When people are happy with a product they generally tell a few friends and others....but when they are unhappy about a product they will tell " everyone" within earshot. It seems to me that Burris " blew this one" .

About fifteen to twenty years ago I bought a pair of (what I believed at that time) to be " upper end" binos from Burris. They were roof prisms and in the vicinity of $250. or so. I hunted in the NE United States at that time, mostly wooded, with some openings, (power lines, etc.), and was very satisfied with the optical quality. Though for the Whitetail hunting I was doing the glasses NEVER got a really good drenching. So I can' t speak about their " water proofness" . And if someone would have asked at that time......I would have said I was absolutely satisfied with the optical quality of those glasses. (For the way I used them....I was!)

In 1992 we moved to Alaska. I had an opportunity to use optics at distances I could " never have conceived of" in the NE where most of my previous experience had been. (And I don' t mean for looking at a power plant on an opposing Pennsylvania hillside.......I mean for trying to determine the " length of curl" on the ram " from the bottom of the mountain" as oppossed to " after you spent 3/4 of the day scaling the mountain" only to find out that none of the curls exceed 1/2. Or for trying to determine if that bull moose you are glassing has 4 brow tines instead of only 3 brow tines. Or is that a 50" or greater spread on that bull that is just inside timberline 2500 feet lower than you on the opposing hill side! (Yes, I also purchased a good waterproof spotting scope. But I prefer to do much of my glassing with the binos, much easier on my eyes!) After a few frustrating experiences with " less than great optics" I admitted to myself that there is a difference between " great" optics....and other optics.

I went to an outfitter located in Anchorage and looked through a variety of glasses. This particular outfitter would allow you to take the different glasses to the front door and look out across at the Chugach Mountains, (not across the store at some letters on the opposite wall). I took the opportunity to look at more than just a few pairs. (I actually had decided prior to this not to spend more than what a good pair of Leupolds or maybe Steiners would cost!) After nearly " two hours" of comparisons, (yes they tolerated me for that long), I bought a pair of 8X30' s from Swarovski. I COULD see a difference between those binos and the lesser binos. I could NOT however see a difference between the Swarovski' s and the more expensive Zeiss or Leica' s for instance. I am not saying that there is NOT a difference....I am just saying that I couldn' t tell any optical difference with my eyes at the level of quality. But I most certainly could tell a difference with the binos at the lower prices! (And to prove that the Swarovski' s were waterproof....the outfitters had a pair lying in a water filled 50 gallon aquarium tank.....and that was the pair that they told me to pull out of the water and look through them!)

I was going to retire from the U.S.Army in several months and knew that my disposable income might not allow me to purchase really good binos after I retired. Plus if memory serves me right...those binos which were in the upper $600' s. at that time, (1993), and they were on sale for $599. (or something like that). And even though they were more than I originally planned to spend....I bought them. I have never regretted it! They did make a difference in the expanses of Alaska....and friends that have looked through them back in Pennsylvania.....have admitted the difference as well. (One individual after looking from one PA hilltop to another...bought a pair for himself. At several hundred dollars more!)

I guess I finally realized that I use my binoculars much more than I use my rifles during every hunt. And for me at least....it made sense to spend as much on a good pair of binos as I would for a hunting rifle. One other thing I usually try to do is save at least 1/3 of what I have to spend for a scoped hunting rifle...for the scope! When I try to cut cost....I try not to do it with optics. Having done that, if a company treated me the way Burris treated you, I would ensure that every person I " EVER" talked to....would know about it!!!

By the way...I gave those Burris binos to a friend that hunts exclusively in Pennsylvania....and he is still very happy with them.