Has anyone bought grey market scopes.Can you get them serviced.Would you buy one if $200 cheaper.I'm looking at Schmidt Bender.

i've bout grey market stuff before, what you have to do is compare the value of the warranty against the dollars saved. In the case of S&B the odds of needing the warranty are pretty slim.

I just went through this with a Kahles scope. It is a new, second-hand scope and turned out to be legit. However, a nice Cust Svc rep at Kahles/Swarowski told me that they make a case-by-case decision on any questionable warranty issues. He also said they usually will cover any small repair regardless. As a side note, if the scope has an illuminated reticle, they automatically go back to Austria for repair, which would be roughly the same as a gray market scope, except you have to send it back yourself (would probably save time, anyway).

The scope will be illuminated.I did'nt know if I needed to factor this in on the decision.I have a Schmidt Bender fixed power and it is very stout.I was told by another that it was a pain to send the scope back yourself.What do you think.Does the scope still have the warrenty as long as you get it back to Europe?I have been buying Swarovski because of their excellent reputation for customer service,they seem to set the mark.I like the illum.Zennith better than their illun.models.If it was'nt illum.I might would stay with Swarovski.

The cust svc guy said they do get some gray market scopes in every once in a while and they basically treat them the same . Besides, if they're illuminated they go back to Austria anyway. Don't know about SB, but Kahles/Swarovski does it that way. I wouldn't think it would be too hard to send your own scope back to Europe if you had to. Just contact SB here and see how they handle it !

BTW, I went with Kahles because I wanted a 2nd focal plane scope; the SB are all first plane except their new ones, but they're higher powers.