Vixen Polar Alignment Scope trials and tribulations

[DeepSkyMan]

Hi there in prepping for a dark skies expedition in November last year, I discovered that the reticule in my Vixen PAS had come away from its retainers and was rattling around in the scope.  I duly got in touch with Opticron (Vixen reps in U.K.) and they were happy to repair under warranty.  After a couple of weeks I received delivery of the supposedly repaired PAS, only to discover that the reticule had been placed upside down in the PAS.  The PAS was then sent back to Vixen UK in December, who promised that they would fix the error and ensure that the PAS was accurately calibrated.  So after waiting about 4 weeks, I received a 2nd delivery of the PAS, installed the scope in my SXW mount, and set about checking the calibration again, only to discover that the calibration was off by about 30 degrees.  Communicating with the rep at Vixen UK, he apologised and said that they would replace the scope free of charge.  The following day he emailed me to tell me that Vixen no longer manufactured the setting circle based PAS , it has now been replaced by the new Polar Scope P-FL and that they would send me the new product instead.  Quite happy with this arrangement I waited just 48 hrs to received my new all singing all dancing P-FL.  This new device utilises a 3 star alignment process to achieve polar alignment.  So the old PAS was swapped out and sent back to Vixen, and the new PAS installed.  Familiarising myself with the new process I found that the quality of the optics in the PAS appeared to be sadly lacking.  Once focused, the image of the reticule in about the centre 1/3 of the FOV was crisp, however outside of this area the image of the reticule quickly becomes blurred.  The fact the other two stars involved are at the extreme of the field of view, I can only I imagine using this in the field may prove rather frustrating as you go through the iterative process for the 3 star alignment.  Apologies for the diatribe, however this whole experience has led me to wonder about the quality of goods coming out of Vixen at the moment.  Does this experience match with anyone else out there?  Has anyone used the P-FL in the field, are my concerns needless or am I destined for more fruitless backbreaking, neck straining experiences at my PAS?
 
Kind Regards
Paul J.