Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics New Vortex 3 piece spotter...

What do you want to bet as Vortex gets more popular that their warranty will be badly needed? Most of the big Vortex fans I run into are of the younger generation. mtmuley

Here's my take.... I'm not a Vortex fan. I think their general use scopes are a watered down Leupold with some pretty much useless tacticool features. Neither of mine tracked well... and didn't hold a zero well. I have seen a couple Razors at the SRM, one of which soundly whipped my ass... so I'll leave my assessment of their top end scopes at that.

The only Vortex optic that interests me at all, is the 15x Razors. They seem a notch or two below the Uber glasses.... but the price point and warranty are a huge plus.... and as this little anecdote has clearly demonstrated.... schitt can certainly happen to gear.

To be clear, a phriggin bowling ball could have fallen on the pack... I don't know the entire story.... and two unsupervised kids were in the immediate proximity. I filled out Vortex's form, sent it in, and a new one was in hand in three weeks.... no questions asked.

Quick question: It's July.... you have a couple tags you'd really like to spend a few weekends scouting out.... and Jr. just drop-kicked your Swaro off the window mount.... resulting in a similar injury. Don't lie... you're cryin' the blues and schitting a brick.

How long does it take to get it back?

What's that cost us?

What's that 3-weeks and $6 worth now?

That being said..... if anyone wants a good deal on a NIB Vortex Viper HD 15-45x65 Angled Spotter..... shoot me a PM....

Well, starting at the start... you showed a picture of a clearly broken scope and implied it must have broken by osmosis or pyramid power or some such and claimed no knowledge of its demise.

Enough so that the first response was "laffin' and any confeesions yet" which brings up the chickenschit tack of editing your posts after the fact and not being honest enough to leave a note up to the effect.

And of course Uncle Rico chimed in showing that he clearly took it as badmouthing and tossed his nuggets in.

Desert Bighorn saw it as badmouthing as he bought your obvious intent exactly as you laid it out.

Two days later you admit it took a "tumble" off the table. You let your teens get away with that? Or did you just wait to post that for effect? Did I mention CS already? Only then did you mention you had used it a lot...

Then Tanner chimes in with "...buy something gooder..." but fails to suggest a better scope... at any price point.

reelman caught your intent.

And then you chimed in with saving up to buy a spotter from Harbor Freight... That is not badmouthing? The only scope on their site is a Gordon for $49.99 with tripod... Humor? or badmouthing? Did I mention CS already?

joelbiltz then cam eon and obviously understood where you were going and got the Harbor Freight joke...

reelman came back with the fact you got back a Vortex... which is exactly what you paid for in the first place... and broke through abuse. And they covered it. Did I mention CS already?

So, I believe I covered the badmouthing thing pretty well. Your intent was not to laud Vortex, but to bury it. They stayed the course and did exactly what they promised to do. You have gotten two brand new scopes for the price of one.

No one has said "Why didn't you buy X?" Why not? Name a comparable scope with the same warranty for the money.

To pretend you were anything other than disingenuous from the start is well, disingenuous.

You make a VERY big point about newer users being younger. And I agree younger equals dumber!

But that is where Vortex has done their marketing job very well. Durable goods, by definition, last! No point in trying to pimp something durable to someone that already has that item covered. Sell it to the kids with themes like "EXTREME!" and all the other advantages, you know, the real ones.

Easy, right? Those kids are like taking candy from a child... literally... but they have another edge to their sword and the folks at Vortex must know the internet can kill in the blink of an eye.

The customer service at Vortex has proven they intended to be here for the long haul and has made everything else possible.

The return numbers at Vortex would surprise most of the more acerbic posters here as they simply do not fail as often as described. The average user is not really expecting more than what my great uncles got from iron sights on smooth bores back in the '40s.

But the demanding ones realize the price points dictate what you can expect for toughness...

Much as it bothers me I have to agree with almost everything you said...

But tell me which items you find overpriced... I believe they are masters at working the price points...

That is actually the crux of the issue. Average isn't the barometer of much of anything, no matter who it pains to hear it. What most don't get is that the VAST majority of scopes, even "high end" ones, aren't built for much more.



It's sad when people demand more reliability out of their toaster then out of their scopes....

Everything except the Razor Hd spotters, and Viper HD binocs. Build quality of Viper HD's is also very average IMO. I'll take Meopta HD's and Conquest HD's any day of the week over Razor binocs, for the same or less money.

You must be a woman to read between invisible lines and come up with that kinda inference.....

I didn't edit schitt there Caitlyn.... I didn't say schitt.... and I didn't imply schitt. I didn't know the whole story when I posted the pic phugk-tard.... and I found out some stuff when the kids finally copped to knocking the pack off the table. Couple guys already new the story... hence the laughing about the Harbor Freight spotter...... I guess it was rude of us to not let you in on a couple behind the scenes texts too? Get a life Sugar.....

Maybe rather than using your second X-chromosome to misinterpret people and bytch about l the injustices in the world..... you could call on your overian power and make me a sandwich.....

Obviously you realize my points are all pretty much dead on or you could argue the merits. You best get your own sandwich.

The only point you have "dead on"..... is the one on top your head.

Just a curious couple of questions:

Was the spotter good enough for you before your kids destroyed it? If so, why is the replacement not good enough? It seems the company wasn't to blame for the damage done by your kids, and they held up their end of the bargain.

Guessing you forgot these...
"JGRaider Online content
Campfire 'Bwana

Registered: 08/23/05
Posts: 14544
Loc: W. Texas
I'm usually a little critical on vortex products, but that vortex RF is the only one on the planet with a lifetime warranty, electronics included. Amazing.
_________________________

Warranty is exceptional, never needed/wanted to use the product in the field, as the Leupy 1000i is fantastic.

Swing and a miss on your part.

ager:
I have no problem with Vortex customer service.... that's why I posted the update. I knew they'd replace it as soon as I saw that it was broken.... which is small comfort when you're on the side of a mountain fixing to do some scouting. But, it is a HUGE comfort when you get home, and get it sent off.... then have it back before the end of the month.

Frankly.... I expect Vortex products to break at some point (same with Leupold).... and I expect to have to use their warranty. My use of those brands is waning.... but lack of acceptable substitutes (at least that I'm willing to pay $2k-$4k for) dictates that I continue to use a couple of their products. I'm OK with that.... and understand that occasionally schitt will happen.

I didn't buy this spotter.... I took it on a trade with the intent of selling it off. I made the mistake of setting it up and trying it out.... and was impressed with the combination of optical quality, weight, and CS (if needed)... so I kept it. It proved valuable numerous times over the past couple years... and I've taken some great pictures and video through it as well. There's more than a couple guys on this board who have used that very spotter.... none of them had anything negative to say.... even the guys who run Uber glass.

AFTER taking it on trade.... I had to send in a set of Binocs for repair.... more than once, and I had the two aforementioned scopes go tits-up (maybe they started that way). This spotter was on the way out too.... as I've gravitated toward big eyes.... and I don't see a need for both.

If you have kids..... you know schitt gets broken..... and you know you'll never get the whole story. What happens when your kids break your Leica or Swaro spotter? You can tan hides.... but that won't get your glass up and running. Furthermore.... I want optics that I'm not afraid to let the kids (or others) run.... I love that my 8-year old knows how to run a spotter.... or being able to loan it to a pard in need. I'd be aweful hesitant to hand a $2500 Meopta spotter to one of my nephews and tell them to have at it.

I don't know that "price point" would have protected a spotter from what happened to this one.... would a $3k Swaro have taken the spill without a hiccup..... not sure.... but I saw JB dump his pretty f'n hard when wind blew the tripod over.... and it took it, for the most part.

Understood completely about the kids part. I won't own Leica again because their CS sucks, to put it mildly. Swaro has a fantastic warranty and very good to great CS, and they are generally pretty damned fast. Understood as well about a certain price point being what the kids use and don't use.

It just seemed to me to be something that didn't add up; you were using the spotter before the breakage, but after the kids broke it then it's junk and even the brand new replacement needs to move on at a great price.

Got it, now.

Stuff happens that's for sure, and it's obvious Vortex will take care of you. As I said before, I applaud that.

The toughest spotter on the planet, IMO, is Leupy's GR HD.

.


Sitka DB, Thank you for the play by play and letting us know Dogshooter's mal-intent on your favorite optics company! And a very special THANK YOU for keeping vaginas clean since 1766!!! Keep up the good work!!!

I never meant to imply that it was junk... in fact, I used the schitt outta that spotter.... and it taught me a lot. Tastes simply changed, that's why it's being sold. I will admit, I almost took it outta the box last night.... we were headed out on a little hike, and there's always nice deer up there (County Natural Area). I used that spotter and a camera adapter to take these pics from 1/2 mile in the same spot last year....

DogShooter,

When I initially read this thread I thought you were sharing a story about your spotter breaking and Vortex replacing it and your intention to upgrade from your existing peasant-grade spotter.

Oh wait... That's exactly what happened. Never mind.




GFY,
Travis

Nice to see your reading comprehension skills are above a 3rd Grade level.... and your Y-chromosome is firmly intact.

F'ing myself as instructed....