Red Dot Optics & Warranty Questions - Your opinion please

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

We consider competition shooters to be our core customer base. We currently offer a 30 month warranty on our optics. If you have not purchase one of our optics before, would a longer five year warranty be an important consideration to you when purchasing a new red dot optic?

For our existing customers, would you have been willing to pay a little more for the optics if the warranty was longer or were you happy with the existing price point and 30 month warranty?

 

We always have to walk the line between price and warranty and also keep in mind, that technology changes quickly these days.
 

We appreciate your opinions!

 

 

[darthdively]

Pretty awesome to reach out to the customer base like this. This is just my process so take it for what it is worth. I prefer a 5+ year or lifetime warranty. I will be more drawn to an optic that offers a lifetime warranty. I've had to RMA a few Delta Point pros. If it is a known to be strong optic I can go for a 5 year offering. I tend to stay away from optics with less than 2 year warranties. Us competition shooter types tend to go through them.

 

Also it is a matter of if this optic breaks within "x" time, do I feel I got my money's worth to where I would buy the same product or from the brand again.

 

I hope this helps with your survey.

 

Thanks!

[GJM]

We highly value the warranty that Sig provides for their optics, in particular, the Romeo 3 Max and XL. Glad to pay a higher price to have that level of support for something that is subject to a lot of abuse.

[bravofox]

I personally would not buy any optic that didn't have a lifetime warranty, so many companies have them now. 

[dapribek]

Lifetime warranty desired here. 

[42ATK]

Realistically I think a 5 year warranty is about what I’d want… even 3 is party solid

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

Thanks for the feedback!  Warranty is a very interesting balance between price, obsolescence and service. We have summarized the warranty offerings for the optic manufacturers we consider our direct competition below. As you can see, Holson can even void your warranty if you use a non professional model for competition. Other than that, Sig and Trijicon offer 5 year warranties and Leupold is 2 years. C-More recently changed their warranty policy to 30 years. Will C-More be around for 30 years? Who knows. It's all part of the equation.

All electronic optics can and will fail regardless of the warranty when used in competition as they will see a much higher round cound that basically any other type of use. We just shoot a lot more rounds per year than the average consumer. The manufacturer can charge more to make their warranty longer or charge less with a shorter warranty. Previously, we choose to charge a little less and offer a product specifically designed for competition use with more frequent competition inspired upgrades. We are now considering a 5 year warranty to put us in line with our competitors but it would likey require a price increase. Your feedback will definitely help us to make that decision.

Holosun:

10 years for personal use for optics classified consumer grade.

Professional use of commercial models will void the manufacturer’s warranty. Professional use means use of the product in Military, Law Enforcement, Security, or Competition applications.

Professional models carry a 3-year warranty from the date of purchase unless otherwise specified by individual contract terms. International Law Enforcement and Military Warranty Coverage is based solely on individual contract terms. 

Sig:

- SIG SAUER® Electro-Optics Infinite Guarantee™ and SIG SAUER Electronic Component Limited 5-Year Warranty.

Leupold

ELECTRONICS LIMITED TWO-YEAR GUARANTEE

Leupold electronic products, which include rangefinders, thermal products, and other electronic devices, are warrantied against defects in materials and workmanship for two-years from the date of purchase. If the product is found to be defective, Leupold & Stevens Inc. will repair or replace it free of charge, within that two-year period. Proof of purchase may be required to verify warranty.

 

Trijicon

Electronics are warranted to be free of defects in material and workmanship during normal use for a period of five (5) years from date of original manufacture.
 

Cmore:

30 Years (recently added)

[RJH]

One of the reasons I still use some sort of vortex a lot is the warranty, while their sight is not as good as my sro, i ain't a pro shooter and if my dot goes down in the middle of a match it is a much smaller loss than than cost of more expensive optics with shorter warranties. As for future dot purchases it will probably be vortex or Burris for me, solely because of warranty. Another SRO probably won't happen because of cost so hopefully the one I have last a long time 

 

While I have never had a vortex or Burris die on me yet, I do leave the back up irons on my gun for a reason LOL 

[shred]

C-more used to have a terrible warrantee-- 1 year for date of sale to the _retailer_ IIRC.  They'd fix scopes out of that sometimes though.   Maybe that's the answer.  If you have a lifetime warrantee some people will abuse it.  If you do 5 years then you have the option to support people for longer if you want to be nice, but aren't required to help the serial abusers.

 

[hiker88]

8 hours ago, RJH said:

One of the reasons I still use some sort of vortex a lot is the warranty, while their sight is not as good as my sro, i ain't a pro shooter and if my dot goes down in the middle of a match it is a much smaller loss than than cost of more expensive optics with shorter warranties. As for future dot purchases it will probably be vortex or Burris for me, solely because of warranty. Another SRO probably won't happen because of cost so hopefully the one I have last a long time 

 

While I have never had a vortex or Burris die on me yet, I do leave the back up irons on my gun for a reason LOL 

After years of using a Vortex red dot, I finally got to use their warranty service. It was painless and hassle free. They respond very quickly by email.

Immediately after that, I placed an order for one of their scopes for my rifle. I’m a happy customer.

 

[togmaster]

A reputation for good customer service is also very important. Similar to the above post I had an RMR and an SRO break on me.  Both were repaired in about a week and returned without any hassle.

[J_Allen]

I thought Leupold was lifetime guarantee. One of the reasons I have them.

[Joe4d]

23 hours ago, RJH said:

One of the reasons I still use some sort of vortex a lot is the warranty, while their sight is not as good as my sro, i ain't a pro shooter and if my dot goes down in the middle of a match it is a much smaller loss than than cost of more expensive optics with shorter warranties. As for future dot purchases it will probably be vortex or Burris for me, solely because of warranty. Another SRO probably won't happen because of cost so hopefully the one I have last a long time 

 

While I have never had a vortex or Burris die on me yet, I do leave the back up irons on my gun for a reason LOL 

I am fine with 3-5 years, I figure something better will be out by then anyways..
I had 2 vipers die,, 1 sorta my fault/design issue.. open bottom made getting new battery in hard and I bent the nub.. Replaced.. That guy has been going strong for some time including a season on a 200 plus pf slide ride. so maybe 4 years ? Had it on my steel .22 in a frame mount.
just this week though I couldnt get it to zero.. would be slightly off make a small adjustment and it would jump 4 inches. I could probably send it back, but never liked the open bottom design and haveing to remove it to change battery..
I had a Venom that was on my 617, and put that on the 22/45.
New in box Burris IV went on the 617 for ICORE. I liked it bettter than the III, I could actually get the battery in.... The dust cover though resulted in much cussing, as it uses the 2 tinniest screws known to man... It will have to come off to change battery and I dont see it going back on...  I wish it had a taller window though dont recall if it has a shake to wake function or not.
I prefer the FTP sight the most.. due to its taller window.. Not sure how much that will help on the clock. I have it on my 627.

[RJH]

20 minutes ago, Joe4d said:

I am fine with 3-5 years, I figure something better will be out by then anyways..
I had 2 vipers die,, 1 sorta my fault/design issue.. open bottom made getting new battery in hard and I bent the nub.. Replaced.. That guy has been going strong for some time including a season on a 200 plus pf slide ride. so maybe 4 years ? Had it on my steel .22 in a frame mount.
just this week though I couldnt get it to zero.. would be slightly off make a small adjustment and it would jump 4 inches. I could probably send it back, but never liked the open bottom design and haveing to remove it to change battery..
I had a Venom that was on my 617, and put that on the 22/45.
New in box Burris IV went on the 617 for ICORE. I liked it bettter than the III, I could actually get the battery in.... The dust cover though resulted in much cussing, as it uses the 2 tinniest screws known to man... It will have to come off to change battery and I dont see it going back on...  I wish it had a taller window though dont recall if it has a shake to wake function or not.
I prefer the FTP sight the most.. due to its taller window.. Not sure how much that will help on the clock. I have it on my 627.

 

I have been wondering about the fastfire 4s. There doesn't seem to be a tremendous amount of information out there about them. I know you said that you wish the window was taller, but I would love to see a side by side picture with that and your vortex venom if you still have it. Since I have a venom I would be able to get a really good idea about the window size. All the Burris optics I've had in the past have worked well whether they were red dots or scopes. So I'm pretty interested in that fastfire four for the future. 

[Prange]

Lifetime for me. 

[Joe4d]

2 hours ago, RJH said:

 

I have been wondering about the fastfire 4s. There doesn't seem to be a tremendous amount of information out there about them. I know you said that you wish the window was taller, but I would love to see a side by side picture with that and your vortex venom if you still have it. Since I have a venom I would be able to get a really good idea about the window size. All the Burris optics I've had in the past have worked well whether they were red dots or scopes. So I'm pretty interested in that fastfire four for the future. 

No problem,, heading to the shop to dig for a Carver mount , I just mounted the Burris IV on the 617,, will mike all three and see if I can get a decent pic

 

[Haywizzle]

I run Romeo3 Max's on two slide ride CZs and Frame mounted open gun. I considered your optic until I read this in the warranty: "Due to the fragile nature of the glass, this warranty does not cover the glass against breakage, cracks, scratches etc." I'm sure your optic would be fine on a open mount, but in the last year I have had two of my Sig's glass break on my CZs. A phone call and a few pictures to Sig and they have sent me new ones within a week. I couldn't give up that warranty. 

[Joe4d]

3 hours ago, RJH said:

 

I have been wondering about the fastfire 4s. There doesn't seem to be a tremendous amount of information out there about them. I know you said that you wish the window was taller, but I would love to see a side by side picture with that and your vortex venom if you still have it. Since I have a venom I would be able to get a really good idea about the window size. All the Burris optics I've had in the past have worked well whether they were red dots or scopes. So I'm pretty interested in that fastfire four for the future. 

no go on the pics couldnt figure out how to hold / prop the guns,, all 3 are different, and work a touchscreen, to get anything usefull.. The online specs of the burris , pretty much jive with what I measured,,, the lens is actually taller,, but slanted back,, so I called it about .7 X 1.10.. Didnt what to scratch up glass with mikes.
Looks like the venom is a hair shorter,,
Venom,, is about the same useable size.. Burris is bigger but the shape of it probably doesnt offer more useable glass. 
The FTP is noticably taller like .820 high about same width on all three.
Personally ? its a toss up between the Venom and Burris,, Burris has different reticles, but not a good 6 MOA, I played with the 11 with brightness down a bit. the circle ones are an eyesore and I dont see the point.. At this point kinda thinking of switching. Putting the Burris on my 22/45 steel challenge gun where the 11 MOA may be good.. and the 6 moa on my 617 which I shoot Icore with and the X ring accuracy is more criticle.
For games of the 3 I like the FTP the best though. not sure where its made though.

 

Edited March 17 by Joe4d

[392heminut]

I prefer the lifetime warranty and the Holosun Limited Lifetime warranty is the least I will go in an optic.

[ReconNav]

My most recent PMO was purchased from Brownells, because of this:

https://www.brownells.com/help/shopping/guaranteed.-forever/

 

If the OEM warranty runs out, I can go back to Brownells for help.  It cost a couple bucks more, but I liked peace of mind the Brownells guarantee provides.

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

6 hours ago, Haywizzle said:

I run Romeo3 Max's on two slide ride CZs and Frame mounted open gun. I considered your optic until I read this in the warranty: "Due to the fragile nature of the glass, this warranty does not cover the glass against breakage, cracks, scratches etc." I'm sure your optic would be fine on a open mount, but in the last year I have had two of my Sig's glass break on my CZs. A phone call and a few pictures to Sig and they have sent me new ones within a week. I couldn't give up that warranty. 

We actually do cover class cracks as a results of stress fissures/manufacturing defects. We just do not cover impact damage from richochets, dropping the gun etc. We will look into revising the wording on the warranty and appreciate your feedback.

[Haywizzle]

2 hours ago, FTP_Shooting_Sports said:

We actually do cover class cracks as a results of stress fissures/manufacturing defects. We just do not cover impact damage from richochets, dropping the gun etc. We will look into revising the wording on the warranty and appreciate your feedback.

 

Well that's good to hear! How do you determine the cause though, inspection of the housing for impact? What kind of turn around would one expect if it happened to fail while in warranty?

 

I might get a larger MOA dot for steel challenge in the future. I tend to crank up my current 6 moa dot and get the starburst you talk about in your other post.

[FTP_Shooting_Sports]

15 hours ago, Haywizzle said:

 

Well that's good to hear! How do you determine the cause though, inspection of the housing for impact? What kind of turn around would one expect if it happened to fail while in warranty?

 

I might get a larger MOA dot for steel challenge in the future. I tend to crank up my current 6 moa dot and get the starburst you talk about in your other post.

 

We look at the frame for drop damage and the glass to see if there is an impact mark. If neither are present, then it will be covered as a glass defect. Usually glass defects make themselves known very early on as stress cracks expand quickly.

 

You definitely would like the bigger dots. Go with an 8 or even 10 MOA

[zzt]

FTP, you are in error.  Trijicon warrants their dots for the life of the original owner.  Leopold's warrants their dot for lifetime, even if you are not the original owner.  Burris warrants their dots (FF 1, 2 ,3) for life).  Don't know about the FF4.

 

If you don't warrant your dots for lifetime, I'll never buy one.

[Cuz]

This is an interesting question and has me thinking.  For a scope, I will only buy something with a no BS lifetime warranty like Vortex or Burris.  That's mostly because I shoot them very little, and hopefully someday my kids/grandkids will get to play with them and I like knowing that they won't have to worry about any optics issues.  I have a few scopes on rifles I've shot less than 5 times in the last 10 years, I don't put the batteries in them, so I would have no way of knowing if the electronics were defective.  If it's a Vortex or Burris I don't have to worry about it.

 

For a handgun/PCC red dot, I went through a few before settling on the SRO for my pistol and a Holosun 510 for my PCC.  I'm sure the warranty may have been part of the decision, but they just seemed to be the ones that I liked the most.