Well I ordered a Baush & Lomb elite 300 but the man I talked with at bear basin was very rude and Questioned my veracity when I told him I didn't get a lens pen with my last leaupold order. Had to lecture me about it for several minutes. I really didn't careif I got the pen or not just mentioned it wasn't in the box. Anyway I let the order stand but I will not order from them in the future. He didn't even say thanks for the business ! Some way to treat a customer. I guess if I ordered one of their 1000. dollar scopes I wopuld have been treated with a little courtesy.

Maybe he was a new hire and his last job was with the phone company.

358

I had a similar experience about 2 years ago with them. They said they would ship the same day and since I am only about 100 miles from them I would get it in 2, maybe 3 days tops. This is the main reason I order from them, I could get the scope before the weekend when I needed it. When the scope didn't arrive several days after it should have, I called and the guy on the phone could care less about it. Needless to say, although I have order several new scopes including a Nightforce ($1300) and 3 or 4 Leupold VariX-IIIs since then, NONE of them were ordered from Bear Basin.

There are lots of outfits in the same business who will gladly reach for your money. Tell BB to 'stick it', and then move on to a different retailer.

AD

Gentlemen

There is not enough customers to treat some like shit. The word spreads fast

I had some problems with Leupolds agent in Sweden. They are expensive, unpolite and think they world orbits around them. I asked them stick it up their star fish

I bought the scope from a basement dealer near me.

/ JOHAN

"Star fish!" I like that!

I kinda got the same thing from them over an
e-mail question Needless to say....They didn't get my money.....and never will.

I've bought numerous optical devices from them and I feel they have treated me above and beyond the "call of duty".

Case in point: I bought a Leice 800LRF,that was a total POS. At that time,I was headed for a week long Brown Bear hunt and desperately wanted a laser to acompany me.(NOT for long shots,but due to the fact that I'd had two lasers before that time and both left me wanting)

Anyhow,I received The Leica and immediately deemed it a POS. I called Bear Basin,related both my point of view and prior laser experiences. I related that my hopes were to exchange my newfound Leica,for the Bushy 600(a FAR superior unit). They credited my purchase and sent me the 600 in PRIORITY Mode,before they received the Leica unit in return.

I've dealt with countless Mail Order firms,as that is the only way we can do business here,in rural Alaska. After having sampled most and having been extremely pissed at the vast majority,I must weigh in the (thus far) minority here.

Bear Basin treated me with courtesy and in a very timely manner. Plus,their pricing was most competitive(as I've purchased multiple items from them).

They merit a most ambitious "thumbs up",in my opinion/experiences...............

I have made only one purchase from them, a Zeiss Conquest, and found their service to be just fine and the shipping time was as promised.

Big Stick,

I purchased a Leica 800 a few months ago and simply love the damned thing. Most reviews and input from other hunters rate it superior to the Bushnell units. I understand, however, that some of the earlier Leicas had problems.

What was it about the Leica you did not like and how is the Bushnell superior?

Rangefinders are quite new to me and I have not used a Bushnell in the field.

Regards,

~Holmes

At the time of my Leica 800 LRF purchase,I had very high hopes for that unit. Prior to it,I had owned multiple "consumer" priced lasers.

In comparison to examples I owned at the time,the Bushy 600 trumped them all(despite other model's having a higher range designation).

Anyhow,I received my Leica 800LRF and took it to task,against what I owned at the time and models friends owned. In a nutshell,the Leica SUCKED at range determination,though it excelled in optical clarity/brilliance. As my only wish was for a device that readily determined range(I have Zeiss 10x40 bino's,for glassing purposes)I promptly returned the Leica 800 LRF,in exchange for the Bushy 600 Compact.

Butttttt,when reading about Leica's second try at the consumer market(NOT the Geovids),I was fairly sure they'd strive to make their name stick. At that time,it was more than obvious that most with the 800 Leica's were pretty pissed,at what their money had bought them.

Anyhow...Upon reading of the Leica 1200 LRF effort,I was convinced they would try to make things right. Mostly because you CAN'T charge German pricing,on Portugeuse products,that do NOT work nearly as billed(be pissed if you want,I bought and saw the shoddy performance and both my 800 and 1200 say "Made in Portugal" on the ass end).

So with high hopes,mostly resting upon Leica's prior established laurels(I have some of their bino's too),I fronted my money on the pending 1200LRF. That unit is utterly amazing! It is the BEST money I have spent,in a lonnnnnggggg time.

While my Bushy 600 Compact absolutely and 100% trumped my Leica 800LRF(and four of my friends),it could not hold a candle to Leica's 1200yd offering.

I immediately put my 600 up for sale and have yet to look back. If you think the Leica 800LRF is even moderately impressive,I suggest you refrain from gawking at their 1200LRF version. You will be SERIOUSLY pissed at the meager pricing difference and the unbelievable ranging capabilities........

mickey,

Overwhelming consensus here and a MUCH reported chain of events(on my part,in prior Posts,here and abroad). Noone here retained the Leica 800LRF. I doubt it was my bad "luck",nor friends bad "luck". That after countless battery swaps and upgrades.

Multiple posters on this Forum(and others) were privvy to my 600 Compact and units of friends here. The little Bushy really was a great machine,in my direct comparisons and those of others. In fact,my 600 was soooooo good,I sold it in seconds to a Forum Member,after posting it's availability.

However,ALL of that is water under the bridge and in my opinion,the Leica 1200 is THE standard of measure(yes,literally). It's my fifth laser and it really does a wonderous job....................

For my optics purchases, I've always had very good luck with SWFA.com. Good prices and service.

As far as rangefinders go, I've owned the Bushnell Yardage Pro 400(junk by today's standards), Nikon Laser 800(nice unit but the battery latch sucks) and now the Leica LRF 1200(WOW!!!). All money well spent at the time but I'm glad I kept upgrading.

FWIW, the leica 800 of a couple of years back and the leica 800 of current production are not the same units. When the leica first came out there were a lot of disappointed customers, it definately didn't live up to it's name. Leica recalled them and re-worked them, releasing them again about six months later. The later unit was much improved and that's what you get when you buy a leica lrf 800 now. I own the 1200 and it's much again better, as big stick says. Leica pissed away a lot of goodwill buy putting an untested product on the market. They should have waited until they had the bugs worked out.

Although I haven't purchased from BB, I have e-mailed questions to them regarding scopes. Their reply was prompt, polite, and courteous.

I've bought from Bear Basin a couple of times, and everything was courteous and handled in a business like manner.

I hope you just got some new hire that deserves to be a new fire.

I like SWFA, but I am in Texas and so are they, so I have to pay sales tax which makes their delivered prices uncompetitive for me. Has NOTHING to do with SWFA, it is the law, and like most people I try to shop for the best deal that supplies good service.

Rick at 24hr has very competitive prices on Leupolds as well. Just haven't ordered any since he got them in.

I purchased a burris signature scope from them several years ago. The scope was sent to me via UPS who charged me a brokerage fee. It was an unexpected fee and rather high. I e-mailed them to tell them it might be better to ship to Canada using USPS as all you pay is a $5 handling fee and the taxes.(did not ask for anything from them) Well I got an e-mail back running my government to the ground and that I was wrong it was the government charging me the fees. I have not purchased anything from them since and have purchased about 4 scopes elsewhere.

Instead of starfish, how about "spider" or "barking spider"?

Well I've ordered a couple things from BB and was always treated pretty good. They were able to answer some questions I had and gave me some suggestions. They were also very good about taking back some rings which didn't work for me. But...since I'm from California and have to pay sales tax (7.75%)it is cheaper to deal with SWFA. The shipping takes a little longer but without paying sales tax SWFA is a little cheaper. That's what it's all about when you buy optics sight unseen. You really don't know what you're getting so you better get great service.

NoCAL

Big Stick,
I have only ordered one item from BB, and it was a 1200 Leica. Ordered it on Monday and it arrived in two days. I bypassed all the other models after seeing all the disgruntled comments. I am very happy with this model.

I have been very pleased with BB and their price was the best I could find also.

I have purchased six scopes from BB. I was always treated with respect. Their people also know what they are talking about. I had one problem. I received a rifle scope instead of the pistol scope I had ordered. I had the correct scope overnighted to me without them waiting to receive the other scope back.

Hopefully the bad apple has been weeded out. I would have asked to speak to someone else.

Good Hunting,

Bob

The magic words always are, when a commercial conversation is going nowhere: "Let me talk to your supervisor."

Paladin

Or you can say these magic words..." Unacceptable, try again." After that repetition 3 times, then ask for a supervisor. Then if necesssary, repeat.
It's your money...vote with your pocketbook. swede

Gentlemen,
It's probabely rash to brand Bear Basin as rude, however, I had a similar experience with them that killed any future business from me. I try to be polite and expect similar consideration from others. We often don't get it, however, we can choose with whom we do business.

I've since bought a good deal of Leupold and Leica offerings from Chris Farris at SWFA. Dick Thomas of Premier Reticles is also a class act in every way. Have grown to consider both friends and I don't use that term loosely.

Regards, Matt Garrett
Chesapeake, Virginia

www.riflescopes.com
www.premierreticles.com

[ 10-14-2002, 06:14: Message edited by: Matt in Virginia ]