A lil Vortex discussion…

I ended buying a Burris but I wanted to hear some thoughts on my Vortex observations. I have spent about two hours a day for over a month researching scopes. Many videos and written reviews rate Vortex very high , I realize these could be influenced by Vortex staff.

On this forum Vortex isn’t highly thought of and doesn’t seem to be recommended by many. Here’s my question…is your opinion of Vortex optics because of first hand knowledge, you had a scope or knew someone that did? Or, is your opinion based on Vortex being the lower cost option and therefore must be poor quality?

Not enough first hand knowledge of Vortex for me to say anything negative, but I have a Burris XTR II and love it Which Burris did you buy?

I have one Vortex scope left. A gen 1 4-16 Viper PST ffp. I had it on the deer rifle for a few years, and had no complaints, other than the glass is just Ok. It’s on a 223 now, and will stay there. I had a 6-24, but sold it, and I had a Crossfire that died. If I was going to buy another FFP scope, and didn’t want to pony up for a NF, I don’t know what I’d buy.

Gen 1 PST. Dust got inside the optic on a hunt. The turrets were so easy to turn, they would get rotated while slinging the rifle. Cost me a mule deer buck. Sent it in, they cleaned it and said they got it resealed. I sold it when it came back.

Gen 1 Razor spotting scope. Dust inside the optic. Sent it in, the cleaned it, and said they resealed it. A year later it got water inside the objective lens. Still need to send it in the second time.

Seen about 50 of them come out to get used at my place for training. Whole lot of them did not track properly. Some were way off for what they should have been.

I got no use for them. Too many other reliable options.

I have a razor hd 1-6 on an AR. I have had no problems with it. I bought some of their binoculars once and used them a week and returned them. Their low light performance was really poor.

Have a gen 1 PST on a 308, still doing the job with no issues.
Crossfire II 1-4 on a 3030, not a good scope but it’s a 3030. Don’t plan on shooting past 100 with it anyhow.

For what the majority of people do (safe->truck->blind->truck->safe) they will probably never have an issue.

I have a 1-8 vortex strike Eagle on an AR. Scope is designed for an AR and is well thought out and holds zero. It is a $500 scope at Academy. It works well enough. I would describe the glass as milky.

My Vortex experience is very positive…full disclosure, I’ve only bought one that wasn’t a direct buy program they offer that my wife qualifies for, she works retail. They provide discounts to associates to own, be familiar with and can recommend the proper optics.

Vortex stuff we’ve owned:
Ranger 1000 range finder
2 PST 1
Diamondback 12x50 binos
6 Golden Eagles
3 LHT
Fury binos
Razor spotting scope

The Fury binos are the only thing that’s made the trip back to the mother ship. They quit ranging stuff over 3-400y, they cleaned them and did a firmware upgrade and worked until I sold them, they are still working.

I think the current LHT line of scopes are one of the the best hunting scopes offered today.

Never had an issue with any Vortex scopes. I’ve had from the cheap $129 scopes up to a PST 1, and currently use a pair of Razor HD binos, which I like.

The PST spent a week being shot, turrets turned, and in constant rain for 6-8 hours a day. It never stopped working

I’ve bent a scope, and had to send eyepiece back on little razor spotter once.

With that said, I have one the first scopes they made (viper) and it’s been built proof as are the original razor Bino’s from Vortex that I gave to my kids. Most built proof Bino’s I’ve owned

I do think Vortex’s value isn’t what it use to be.

Recently I picked up an LHT(SFP), love every thing about it but eyebox is tight, which isn’t such a bad thing due to making you get real square behind it.

I only have one, it’s a gen 1 viper PST long range 4-16. Originally had issues sighting it in had to use z-rings and just barely got it done then. Sent it back to vortex they took it apart inspected it and said there was nothing out of spec but when I got it back it mysteriously worked correctly. Has always held zero and while I have not dialed it as much as many do, it has worked fine. Wife shot a deer with it this weekend, still works well the glass is not the best but is more than serviceable for hunting.

Had a 6-24 PST FFP MIL, glass wasn’t great but I liked the reticle. I sold it and it broke on the next owner.

Still have 2.5-10x32 PST FFP MIL but the last time I shot it I wasn’t sure it tracked well. Turrets are stiffer than stiff but that’s ok. May sell it soon.

Looked at a brand new 5-25 PST II and out of the box I thought the turrets were mushy.

Exact same one as you !

I have the Fury ranging binos Judd mentioned above, they have been great and have used them out to 800-900yds. What I did notice on farther targets is that if you used the laser guide box, they would always fall short, if you placed that box slightly above your intended target, they were accurate. I think I mentioned this to Judd, which may have explained his issue past the 300-400yd mark.

I have an LHT 3-15x42mm and my only dislike is the same as Bobo's, you have to be square behind it above 3x. I will have to add an adjustable comb to the intended rifle to take advantage of the scope fully. Something I am not looking forward to or interested in.

Add a Triad Tactical stock pack.

It will get your cheek to the proper height, and it is more comfortable than a hard rifle stock.

I don't have any experience with Vortex scopes, largely because of the feedback from those with lots of personal experience. ​Almost all say they do not hold up and have lots of problems with them. As far as binos go, IMO there's always something better than Vortex for the same or less money. For instance, once again IMO, a Vortex Viper should cost $300, not $500. Razors should cost $700, not close to $1000, and a Vortex UHD at $1400 is insane given the fact you can by a mint SLC for the same money. Since most of them are made by the Chicoms there is a wide variation in quality (sample variation). No offense to Fury HD owners (I tried one), but the glass on those in about like a $300 bino from any other maker.

I will confess I bought my wife (who nowadays loves to whack hogs) a 10x42 Viper HD for $275 which I consider a good deal. I wouldn't pay much more than that for them though.

I do not own any Vortex products but have looked through their binos.
We bought our better optics way before Vortex came out and have been very pleased with the overall quality of our Swaros.
I bought SLCs from the Cabelas bargain cave back in 2007 or so, they have had work done on them one time, I sent them in for a glass upgrade expecting to pay about $150 for the service, they responded the glass in them was found to be defective and did the upgrade for free. Have had no other warranty needs since then.
The glass in my older SLCs is great at low light and I can't even imagine how good the newer glass is .

I have not heard really anyone say they have looked through both Swaro and Vortex high end and chose Vortex over the Swarovskis, I could very well be mistaken but anyone feel free to verify they believe that.

For rifle scopes I have no skin in that game.

Spotting scopes, again I love our Swaro but have n ot looked through say Maven, Vortex or any comparable scopes.

Vortex has a great warranty, hands down they stand behind their products from all accounts, but it does sound like it gets used quite a bit.
We have 3 Swaro products, binos and spotting scope , and other than the glass upgrades in both binos no other warranty work in years. And we are not easy on our optics.

I have 2 and gave away a Ranger 1000 that broke..... again.

I will not be buying anything else they make, I can’t afford for an optic to fail while I’m hunting. My family takes up a large portion of my free time including deer season.

All good information fellas, thanks for sharing

I bought a Diamondback to go on a .450 Bushmaster

Now, I only carry this rifle 2/3 times a year

I’ve tried over and over to kill a buck with it

But I swear, game time…the last 10 min or so of legal light I cannot see out of it

My vision isn’t great but other I can still see out of

I’ll either lose the reticle or the animal out of it in low light

I just can’t get a full picture w the crosshairs at last light

It has to be the scope, idk what it is

I won’t own another

Buy Zeiss it will seem like daylight

Ya I use the Hornady version and it helps a bunch

My first Vortex was the old original PST4-16x 44 and glass was not very good but scope worked fine and I sold it.
Next was 2.5-10x 32mm and it’s on a 6x45mm AR currently
Bought the Gen1 Razor spotter with Mil eyepiece and it was great but sold it bought a Kowa
Bought the Gen I Razor 5-20x with 10 mil turret and still have it mounted currently on Tikka TAC A1 it actually a very solid scope with good glass which I used on a 308 for several years shooting it in competitions.
Gen 1 Razor 1-6x on 3 gun AR is heavy but very good glass and still working fine.

I have used a few more of their scopes and a couple pair of binoculars but didn’t own them.
I really like the LHT scopes I have seen and shot while sighting in rifles and could see me buying one in the future.

Judd is aware of this issue, a cheek riser isn't going to fix a mismatch of components. This is with taller rings. I can use Ken Farrell low rings with the Vortex Razor HD LHT, you just cannot cycle the bolt. I will do one of two things, correct the comb with corfill covered with graphite and repaint of sell this stock and replace it with an AG Composites Alpine Hunter. I don't want to add anymore weight to an already heavy rifle. I have no use for a stock pack, it's a band aid.

I will never own another optic from them.

I've owned 4 or 5 Vortex scope. My gen1 Razor 5-20X50 is a very good scope. I still have a few gen 1 PSTs. I won't buy another one. My Leupold and Swarovski scopes have never failed me and the glass in those scopes is amazing.

The razor series of scopes and binos are of good quality and compare well with their peers in the price range.
Any of the lower priced stuff I wouldn’t trust.

I can't speak to their 'razor' line of scopes but I've a had a Viper PST-210-S1A 2.5 x 10 x44mm on my .17hmr for about 7 years now. Had the send the original one back right away (very poor glass and super small and sensitive eye box), got a bunch of run around from the person I talked to...but eventually agreed to replace it after seeing it.

Replacement scope was marginally better (glass) but still poor performance in low light and eye box still very touchy.

As for the 'wonderful warranty' everyone likes to tout, wake up! The replacement cost of the scope (their cost) is built into every scope they sell. If they would just offer a limited warranty and put that money into making a BETTER product...they wouldn't have to honor that (already paid for) warranty.

It's a so-so scope in daytime, bright light. I wasn't really expecting that much from it....and it didn't disappoint (isn't much of a scope). So lesson learned for me. No more Vortex scopes (overpriced for you get IMO). Lots of people getting suckered in by the warranty offer.

I bought a PST2 and had to return it out of the box. The vertical adjustment ring was binding really bad

I’ve had an 11-33 razor spotter for many years and it’s been great.

I don’t usually consider vortex when buying new now. There is almost always a better price/quality combo for whatever you’re looking for

They did not go downhill recently. Just more people have tried them, and found out they are not that great.

eye box is part of the optical design - it's not going to change scope to scope barring a major flaw in assembly. That's one of the biggest things you pay for in better optics. Usually cheap optics have bad eye boxes and lots of chromatic abberration (CA) once you get off direct center of the optical axis. Once you go up a bit, the eye box gets way more forgiving and the CA goes away a little. Once you go to the top of the line scope, you can move your eye around a bit and not see much CA at all.

I agree 100% that you pay for the warranty - it's just built into the cost. Part of the reason it became such a draw with Vortex is that back in the day, many folks had problems with other manufacturers and warranty service was bad (Leupold comes to mind). So Vortex didn't necessarily have to build bulletproof products because the competition didn't either, and Vortex changed the industry in a very positive way from that perspective. I do think they need to get better about putting higher quality into their higher-priced lineups, but I'm not sure it really impacts their sales in a meaningful amount at this point.

It strikes me they are like several other optic companies. Bushnell/ Athlon/ Vortex and probably others. If you buy their top tier products you get high quality and value for your money. If you drop down to the lower price spectrum it’s hit or miss depending on model so you have to do your homework.

Vortex - heavy, decent glass, good warranty (which you will need at some point in my experience), good prices on some models which makes them attractive, especially to people who aren't typically scope aficionados.
I've owned a couple, but look elsewhere now when shopping for optics. Burris is a better buy IMHO and gets a look from me any time i'm looking for a scope. I've always liked Leupold as well and regard them higher than Vortex in all categories.

I bought two Vipers when they first came out, a 2-7 and a 3-9. The 2-7 was going to replace a Fullfield II on my daughter’s .243. I looked through both scopes at night and the low light clarity was much better on the Fullfield II. Sent both scopes back.