I was honestly surprised to receive a message from the manager of Bass and Bligh within a few hours of sharing my last post on facebook, here it is:

Hi Garry,

I am Justin from Bass & Bligh in Harrogate and have just read your blog.

I would like to explain the mix up in understanding we appear to have had. Regarding the Swarovski Binoculars, it was myself you spoke to last week, i made an error in saying we have never recieved the "SV's". For some reason i had Zeiss on the brain and thought we were talking about there new binocular, i always refer to the Swarovski's as "EL's" not "SV's" This was a gunuine mistake made by myself, the annoying thing is hat we had and still do have the new 8x32 EL/SV in stock.

We are a small inderpendant business who really enjoy looking after our customers, we never intentionally set to mislead or lie to anyone of our potential/existing customers, it was very upsetting to read your opinion of the customer service you recieved from myself.

Justin
justin@bassandbligh.com

I have to say I'm not sure about the reason he gives for the mix up as I know I would have mentioned the manufacturer by name i.e  Swarovski and not the Zeiss but I guess if the shop was busy or something he may have not heard me correctly so I'm happy to give them the benefit of the doubt.  And I have to say I do respect the fact he took the time to respond to my post, it appears they aren't tossers but good guys, maybe they'll give me a hefty discount if I promise to write a glowing review!

Lying bastards

A short post this, just to have a whine about optics retailers, well one in particular, Bass and Bligh in Harrogate. A few weeks ago they had the 8x32 SV's listed as in stock on their website, as I also wanted to visit a bike shop nearby I took a drive over there only to be told they had sold them, ah well i suppose it's no problem and to be honest I should have rung to double check Last time I was travelling up to Scotland I thought I'd try again as I was passing nearby, same story just sold them they'll be back in stock at the end of the week. Yesterday I tried again only to be told they haven't had any.......and as far as they know nobody else has. What a crock of shite In Focus have had them at least cos my mate fuckin bought a pair from them. What really pisses me off though is why bother lying that they have had them and sold at least a couple of pairs, I really can't see what they have to gain from that. TOSSERS. At least it means In Focus or Birdnet Optics will be getting my custom now.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Why does it always take me so long between updates these days?  I just don't seem to have the time to post anymore, and when I do I've forgotten all those little golden nuggets of wit!

So in the absence of anything funny to write about I'll talk about optics.  Regular reader(s) will remember last year I tested all the top scopes and at the time I thought the Kowa 883 with 30x was cracking but the Swaro 80 with the 25-50 zoom was the best zoom, and therefore offered more felexibility.  I think I also posted to say I'd bought a the Kowa in the autumn.  Well the reason for buying the Kowa was it was secondhand and therefore a bit cheaper and I didn't want to shell out full whack on a scope as I'd heard Swaro had a new one coming out this year.  The beast has arrived, well it's been announced, in the usual Swaro style it won't arrive for a few months and when it does they'll be rarer in shops than rocking horse shit.  I will almost certainly be buying one though, specifically a 95mm 30-70 zoom one.  Check it out on t'internet it looks simply awesome, I can't wait to look through one.

Also while we're on the subject of optics I've bought some new bins, I should have bought two pairs by now but haven't found the time to go look through the new Swaro 8x32 EL swarovision, that really is a shit name innit, swarovision, who the fuck thought that one up!  Think I'll stick with SV's.  The other pair I bought we're solely for boat work.  My 10x we're a bit difficult to hold steady particularly on the boats I'm working on at the moment which are a little less than smooth!  So I got myself a pair of 8x, I didn't fancy using the new SV's (when I get them) and fucking them up with loads of salt spray and the odd drenching on rough days so I found a pair of Zeiss 8x40 victory's going for a relative song.  Most people don't remember these because they got a few bad reviews due to the way they handled stray light, the strap design and the rubber smelling of tyres!  I got a pair of MK11's and they sorted the light and strap issue on these but the rubber is the same, except after a few years it seems they don't stink anymore.  This is what they look like.

They are pretty good, in fact in anticipation of buying the new SV's I sold my old EL's a few weeks ago and haven't missed them.

I also got hold of a converter for the Lumix the other week which now makes it 1020mm, it's insane.  I've not really had a chance to use it much but this Barn Owl was obliging the other day.  They have had some curves tweaked and sharpened.