Back when only 1x was allowed on ML's in WI, I had a Nikon 1x scope, and I experienced the same phenomenon of things looking smaller with it. Thankfully they dropped that requirement some time back.
As far as the Vortex holding zero, I personally wouldn't put a whole lot of trust in it. Perhaps it's a good fit for a turkey gun, where shots are close and pellets are many, so a high level of precision isn't required in the first place. Further, round count would be pretty low and even if it gets shot loose, the consequence is only a missed turkey.
I had a Viper on a varmint rig briefly; I never did warm up to the scope for a number of reasons, one of them being inconsistent tracking, and then a few buddies had trouble with a number of Vortex scopes from different lines loosing zero and /or having wandering zero, so I moved on from it and I haven't bought another Vortex. This was a while ago, not real long after they started offering rifle scopes, so maybe they've tightened up their qc, testing, or suppliers on the lower lines by now?
Around here, not far from the shadow of their HQ, there's a saying that Vortex has the best warranty you'll surely use. I hear good things about the company and about some of the Razor line, but my feeling on the Razors so far is that you can get into other comparable LOW scopes, such as the LRTS, LRHS, SWFA HD, and others, for less money. They sell a lot of scopes and they're still in business, so others must've had better experiences with them.
Last edited by Starbuck; 03/09/21.
