Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Spotting scope - Vortex

I know Vortex's lower end rifle scopes catch hell. But their Razor line seems to get used a bit at competitions and such. How's their spotting scope stack up?

Razor HD 27-60x85 Spotting Scope - specifically.

Intent is to use it primarily for shooting and spotting targets. Mostly High Power but if it worked for other disciplines and distances too - great.

Anything else I should look at in that range? How does it stack against a Kowa 82SV 82mm which seems to be popular at Creedmoor Sports for High Power shooters?

Optically. Given I'm not packing this thing up/down mountains after elk for a week straight - optics seems to be more important than weight.

I don't own one, but I've been going back and forth between this and the Swaro. It seems to me, in bright conditions Vortex is 95% of Swaro. Its the low light that the alpha glass begins to shine, but you won't be in those conditions much during competitive shooting. I had all but made up my mind to go with the Swaro until I signed up for some of the programs for discounts. At this point, I'm leaning toward the value of the Vortex.

Yeah - the Vortex at $1450 is tempting for me.

In that price range, I’d take the Tract over the Razor. (I currently own the Razor.)

What about the Tract has you looking there instead of the Razor?

Much better optical performance.

However, the reticle eyepiece does leave much to be desired against the Razors. If that’s a prime factor for you.

Can you quantify a difference in optical performance? Using them side by side, what were your observations about resolution between the two specifically?

I have used them for many years, along with Zeiss, Swaro, Leica, and a bunch of others. In blind tests where brands are not obvious the Razors are never selected as worst in the line-up. Swaro often is, but they are all pretty close. With my eyes it is hard to see fault on the Razors.

I have the referenced scope and would replace it if lost. I usually use the smaller (now reshaped for more power) 11-33x50 for range work and it is more than adequate for the modest ranges I use it for.

I have a razor 27-60x85, gen 1. I also have swarovski 25-50x65. Razor is very close, swaro is a touch more clear at long distance. I watched a buck at around 1000 yds, had both scopes out while my boy was getting closer to it and the swaro had a slight edge on it, to me. We Spotted more deer and another guy had a tract and my boy looked through it. He felt it was close to the vortex, but not heads and tails better. All comes down to what you like and spend. Never looked through a kowa to compare.

I agree with this completely !!!!!!

Also the OP mentioned the Kowa and they make a fantastic spotter, not a fan of the 82SV but a call to Doug and he could hook you up with the right one

Boat anchor, care to say why? Share any side-by-side comparison you've done.

Wrongside and I have spent some time doing side-by-side comparisons between the 20-60x85 G1 Razor and the 22-45x65 Toric. Both have variables as well as fixed MRAD eyepieces. The clarity and resolution is noticeably better on the Toric. The variable eyepiece on the Razors are okay, but the fixed MRAD eyepiece is significantly better, optically. Having said that, both the Toric fixed MRAD and the variable eyepiece are better optically than both EPs on the Razor, and the two Toric EPs are comparable in optical quality. The fixed MRAD EP body and reticle design on the Razor are far better than the MRAD EP design on the Toric.

Optically, the natural colour, resolution, and brightness are all better on the Toric, both in daylight and as light fades at twilight.

For maybe a bit more, I’d look at a used MeoptaS2 and Kowa 77.

ETA; the Athlon Ares was pretty impressive for the money. I did not spend a lot of time with it, but was pretty impressed the short time I did.

Agreed.

The only downside to the Tracts is their MRad eyepiece design.

Thanks for the tip on the Tract. I'll look at them. I saw that Vortex at the price and figured it was worth asking. MI hunting, we've little use for them and I've been really very happy with my Viper bins. Just want this scope for highpower and more range work.

I own two Vortex Razor Gen1 spotters

Neither have been perfect

One had the 1/4-20 insert split in half

Both have had the rubber sleeve that covers the focus knob need glued in place

But for under 800 they are great

How do you know which generation is which? I see a Razor HD that's green and grey for 1k and then a Razor HD that's all green for 1600 on Amazon.

Gen 1 has the focus knobs on top. Gen 2 has the inline focus collar.

You will be faced with crap resale value with vortex 5 years from now. They change models a lot and blow the old ones out cheap. Resale is greatly impacted. If you wanna spend 500 on a viper k but pushing 1500 for a razor makes now sense. By something alpha used instead.

I'm not concerned about resale.

I am also looking for a spotting scope. It will be mostly used for target shooting out to 300 yards.
I am looking to be under $600. was looking at the Leupold SX-2 Alpine HD and the Nikon Pro Staff 5.
I have seen reviews on others, but not familiar the other brands.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You, Bill

ok then buy a high end vortex. I don't like the idea of spending a lot of money on something that isn't worth near as much as I paid for it. I also like stuff that retains value so I can upgrade and not have to be out of pocket so much. example. I bought a pair of EL range binoculars a dozen years or so. I paid $2400 for them new. sold them for $2000 after 12 years of use. I end up getting the latest EL range with upgraded glass, ballistic function, for $800 out of pocket, after using the money from the sale of the first el range unit. High end optics are an investment to me to and extent. yes they depreciate but I would rather spend more on something that depreciates less as a percentage. Vortex doesn't maintain its brand value over time.

If/when I want more - I'll buy more. The Vortex resale doesn't matter to me. I don't consider it a high end purchase - simply a mid level tool to see little holes or scoring disks at range which doesn't need to be high end. Talking high power or maybe PRS, not determining if a ram's legal from 3 miles out.

If I was looking "high end" it would be that - Something at that price is where I want to be for this purchase. That happens to be the top end of Vortex but not the top tier of spotting scopes.

Agreed Teal. For your use it will be great. I've come to the point when cummins speaks I divide it by 3 and you'll get closer to reality. After the TX hog hunting thread he lost all credibility with me.

the texas hog hunting post was largely a joke to poke some fun, with an element of truth to it. the truth was probably pretty close to divided by 3 like you say, heck I can agree with that. lets not forget how much of a formidilous fan boy you were.

I owned a viper spotter for a while, good mid tier spotter, I like the athlon ares for that segment now.

I have a Viper HD 20-60 and like it fine. It is great for range use and the little bit of spotting wildlife I have done with it. Would rather have a super high end one, but this one fit in my budget better. And when I knocked it over and broke the objective lens last week, they didn’t question me. Sent a return shipping label and are gonna fix/ replace it.

I just bought the Athlon Cronus 86mm from Doug on sale for $850. It is about equal to the Vortex Razor confirmed by 2 Razor owners. Very happy with the purchase. Doug indicated that although the Cronus was better optically the Ares is very close. Best bang for the buck certainly. I sold my Nikon fieldscope that was great for years smaller & lighter but no comparison in performance.

Meopta, Kowa, etc the next steps up the ladder are more than double the cost. My use is range and spotting if I’m hunting or scouting out of the ranger.

If a person looks around, a used Meopta, Kowa, etc. can be found for not much more than the stated price. I just sold a Meopta S2 for $350 more and is a lot more scope IMO.

I agree that a Meopta S2 is a step up and would have been well worth an extra $400. I looked for a while and didn’t see anything close to that price anywhere trustworthy.

Out of curiosity how long did it take to sell?

Less than a day. I had looked at other sites to gauge used prices and set it accordingly. Have seen multiple Kowa 77’s in the same range, slightly more.

What eyepiece was included? I’m stuck with a 20-60x on the Athlon but it was what I wanted & was included. I saw Kowa used models but they were either no eyepiece or something funky a fixed 20something most common.

I’ve had great luck with used quality optics but you have to have good timing - still happy with what I can see trough the Cronus- can’t wait to see elk through it.

The 20-70. I tried the 30-60 and liked the view better, but I found the eye box to be pretty finicky.

I got my cabelas instinct aka meopta s2 for $1350 off eBay.

Vortex is lagging behind. Get yourself an Athlon Ares if you’re in the $500ish price range. If you can go over $1000 there’s some good options for the money, Meopta, Maven, etc., none of them Vortex.

Edit: the main issue with Vortex is quality control. There’s good ones and bad ones and you often need customer service with them as shown by the experience of many guys in this site.

I have had the Razor HD 27-60x85 in the straight and angled. I thought they were as good as you can get. I had zero problems with them. The only reason I got rid of them was to go with the Razor UHD 12x50 binos and Razor UHD 18X56 binos. I just prefer binos for hunting and the range provides spotting scopes for us.

I've got a used Gen 1 Razor HD 16-48x65 and it is optically excellent, a slight step above the Athon Ares 15-45x65 at higher mags. After playing with them side by side I find I like the twin focus system better than the barrel focus ring on the Athlon.

Interesting. If one goes to the thread link below, the prose above are taken word-for-word:

https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/vortex-spotting-scopes.144992/



Someone is setting the stage for a scam in the classifieds shortly.
Caveat emptor, gents.

Same guy, or is he a damn copy paste plagiarizing SOB?