Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Why the hate for Vortex?

Farmboy 1,

I do have a few Nikon scopes and I really like them. I definitely would not trade them for a Vortex. I am pretty content with my Leupolds, Nikons, Burris’, and Bushnell Elites. Even the one Minox and Sightron I own do good. For some reason, I never have cared for my Vortex Viper, even thought at one time it was the most expensive scope I owned.

Right! I hope I never have to deal with any Customer Service weenies from any of the companies. Not knowing boo about a company’s CS is a good sign. Leupold was great the one time I used them years ago. Happy Trails

I’ve had pretty good luck with the couple vortex optics I’ve had. I had a 6-24 hst that survived several hundred rounds of my long range load from my 30-06 (208 grain amax @2750). Always held zero, tracked pretty reliably (always seemed to be a tenth or two less than it should have been at longer ranges). Only complaint was the whole sfp thing that made the retical accurate at 18x. Sold it to a buddy who is running it on a 300 win mag with no problems.

I also have a razor gen 2 that lives on my .308. To my eyes it had better glass than the nightforce I was comparing it to when I bought it from eurooptic. I like everything about it aside from the weight. I’ve never heard that the razor line is made anywhere besides Japan, and I’d be hesitant to believe it.

I guess I’v been pretty lucky by the number of people who have problems with them.

I don't like them because they would not stand behind them. I had 2 4x16x44 vipers that the power ring locked up so tight you would tear the skin off your fingers trying to turn them. vortex would not warranty them. they suggested I buy power ring levers from 2 onther companies to make the easier to turn. screw them.

I was a Vortex fan boy when they first came out and had several of their products. I had one of the very first pair of 12x50 razor binos that came out. Several years later I broke them. Totally my fault and I told Vortex that it was my fault. I sent them in for repair, they had since gone to the new razor HD and had not made the old style for about a year. They called me and said that my binos were not repairable and they would be sending me a new pair. During my conversation I ask if they would be the new HD's and the CS gal said no that it would be the old style. I then ask if I could Pay for an upgrade and again was told no I would be getting a like style.I mentioned that you don't build the old style anymore and the CS gal said that they have some binos that they keep for in house use that they would be sending me.

I received my binos in the mail and upon inspection you could tell that they were used. Not beat up but scuff marks and handling marks on it. I checked my serial number against the pair they had sent me and the replacement pair was older than the pair I sent in and the pair I sent in was one of the first ones Vortex sent out. After that exchange I sold every piece of Vortex I owned and cancelled the order I had for 3 more scopes and have not recommended a vortex to anybody since then.

I bought a 2-7 and a 3-9 Viper when they first came out. The glass, eye box and eye relief underwhelmed me. I sold them and replaced them with a Burris Fullfield II and a Conquest.

The AMG is assembled in Wisconsin.

This.

I’m not a Vortex hater. I have two Viper PST FFP, gen 1, mil scopes. One is a 6-24 and one is a 4-16. Both work just fine, though power rings on both are not that easy to turn. The 4-16 was on my 260 for about 4 years. I used it on Deer, pigs, and coyotes, and I really liked it. Recently I replaced it with a Leupold VX5 HD 3-15 CDS, but not because of any Vortex failure. I just wanted the illuminated firedot. The illuminated reticle on the 4-16 Vortex was too bright to use.

The 6-24 is on my 223, which is the only rifle that I load a long list of bullet types and weights for, and it allows me to easily adjust the POI for each bullet. That really comes in handy, with 40 gr BTs for Varmint use and 60 gr Partitions for pigs.

i just purchased a real nice Remington 700 in a 7 mag with a Vortex 4-12x40 diamondback tactical on this rifle. so is this a decent scope ? and would you trust this scope on a moose hunt ? i have plenty Leupold and Nightforce scopes should i take the Vortex scope off and use one of my other brand scopes for the hunt ? i know nothing about a Vortex scope so i am all ears . thank you,Pete53

Ken Calhoun (Vortex Optics) <infovortexoptics.com>
Thu 3/14/2019 9:28 AM
Vortex Optics - The Force of Optics

Ken Calhoun (Vortex Optics)

Mar 14, 9:28 AM CDT

Hey Chris,

The Razor HD LH is still made in Japan.

If you have any other questions, let me know!

Ken Calhoun
Vortex Optics | Consumer Sales Specialist
One Vortex Drive
Barneveld, WI 53507
800.426.0048 ext. 1314
www.VortexOptics.com
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Chris

Mar 13, 7:18 PM CDT

Is the Razor HD LH made in China now?

I wonder how much longer they will be made in Japan?

Idk. They are made by LOW. I would think they would be discontinued before they move production. Its the only line of product Vortex makes that is for demanding hunters it would seem. Every other manufacture focuses on premier glass at lower weights (Zeiss seems to moving away though). Vortex seems to be more into the tacticool for sure.

Exactly... if it doesn't say SWFA or LRHS on this forum, it's junk. And I'm not a fan boy of any one brand. I have 8 different brands of scopes on my rifles and i'd take any of them on a hunt of a lifetime. Because if i ever get to do such a hunt, you can be darn sure I'm verifying POI when i get to camp first thing, regardless of what is on top of the rifle.

I drank the SWFA kool-aid and tried 2 of them, a fixed and a variable. Sold them both before they even got mounted on a rifle. Glass was average at best. Getting a full sight picture was extremly difficult for me. Nothing to write home about that's for sure. Never looked thru a LRHS, so can't comment

I'm sure I'll get hung for bashing SWFA. But I didn't like them. If they work for you, great. But don't bash others for choosing something that YOU don't like? Everyone has their opinion.

There's only 2 ways to have a fantastic warrantee/Customer Service AND continue to make a profit.

1. Build a great product that has a low failure rate, sell it for a price that allows you to make $$ and service/repair/replace whatever failures do occur as "One-Off" situations.

2. Build a mediocre product, charge 3x-5x (10x, whatever) what it's worth, advertise advertise, advertise, placement, placement, placement, spiff salespeople handsomely, offer a steeply discounted "Pro-Form" program for guides, outfitters, top rated shooters, etc. Easy to do a "No Questions Asked, Over The Counter" warrantee when you're making huge profits on the initial sale.

IMO, pre-2002 during Leupold's "Vari-X" production, they were pretty solidly in camp #1,especially for the "Set it and Forget it" folks. The advent of affordable LRF's and computerized ballistics programs has highlighted Leupold's mechanical shortcomings but before LRF's and "dialing" was all the rage, it really didn't matter to very many folks. The 2002-2003 move to the "VX" series was IMO an attempt to move to camp #2 and they've been HAMMERED for it ever since.

Back 20+yrs ago when I worked in a gun shop, Swift offered an "Over the Counter" no questions asked warrantee on their $99.99 3-9x40. From the outside at least it looked an awful lot like a re-packaged Bushnell Sportview that retailed for $29.99 in a clam pack. We pretty much refused to sell them because we knew they were crap.

I have 2 Crossfire II Dead Hold BDC 6x18x44, one on an AR10 .308 and the other on Bergara 6.5 Creedmoor. A third, a 4x12x44 on a Remington 783 .243. All have performed flawlessly, I happen to like the optics and use the BDC in conjunction with the Strelok Ballistic program on my phone and use it when time allows. The BDC has been right on using just the lower cross hairs for shots out to 430 yards thus far with the AR. I have not experienced any adjustment ring issues. My go to for over 20 years of Whitetail and Mule deer hunting has been a Remington 760 Carbine with a Bushnell 3x9, farthest game taken 562 yards by rangefinder shooting 165 gr BT. Year after year I take it out of the safe, blow off the dust and go shoot deer, never doing a pre-season sight in, just one fouling shot on the way to the field. For me it boils down to affordability, reliability, and intended use. I recently purchased a custom mauser 30-06 Conlin/Hartley build ?circa 1959, and plan on putting another Vortex on it. I appreciate all the good info here folks. Glad I joined 24HourCampfire

And what do you do when you show up to camp and your POI is 6 MOA off where you left it, or the scope took a bump during the flight and won’t hold zero? Maybe you carry one or two extra scopes, that “usually work”, in your luggage as backups? Seems to me that it makes more sense to use a scope that is 99% sure to work, no matter what, in the first place.



I’ve noticed that it’s very difficult to assess glass quality and user-friendliness/eyebox of a scope without having it mounted on a rifle. I’m not sure you gave those scopes a fair shake.



True, and I’ll never slight a man for his preferences, but another general truth is that some opinions are worth more than others. Credibility, due to volume and quality of experience, expertise, and training, varies greatly.

@CJC73,

What Jordan said.

EVERY scope I have is a SWFA except a legacy Nikon 3-9 Rimfire, and EOTECH 1-6 that's inbound for my LMT.

I love the reticles and the ease of use, and the easy zero stops.

I don't shoot a 1/10th as much as Jordan, stick, secnarshooter, dogshooter and others, but I pay attention to what they're using.

I spent years making this harder than it needs to be.

Dollar for dollar, the SWFA scope are more feature-rich and rugged than other scopes I've used, so I just stick with them.

So you broke your binoculars after several years of use and the pair you got was a demo from vortex? I mean it sucks you couldn’t upgrade them, but they still sent you a new pair of binoculars after you broke them. Sounds pretty fair to me. A lot of companies wouldn’t have even covered it.

I don’t want to come across as a fanboy or anything. I like a lot of other brands, but that really doesn’t seem too bad.

To each their own.

My experience matches yours. It's the "bigger and heavier" that have kept me from buying any of their stuff recently even though I'm very happy with the more "trim" models I purchased several years ago. Unfortunately they've discontinued the models I liked. They also suffer from having what I consider to be an overabundance of models. When I first discovered them they had four (Crossfire, Diamondback, Viper and Razor), now they have at least a dozen. I'm happy to say that I've never had to make use of their customer service.

great points from jordan. you don't buy SWFA to be impressed with the optics. I am going to say you are not going to be! you buy them because you don't want to spend $1500 for a nightforce but you still want a reliable scope mechanically. Some things I really like about the SWFA ss other models I don't care for. Its about getting the right model to suit your needs. While my favorite power range is the 3-15 models but the reticle choices DO NOT suit my needs so they end up being my least favorite of their line. but for a guy that shoots mostly on medium to max power, they actually would probably like that particular model.

funny some guy complains about sending a pair of binoculars back to vortex and admits it was his fault and ends up butt hurt because he didn't get the latest model but instead got a demo. WTF I am not a vortex fan but to complain about this is in pretty poor taste IMO