Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Vortex quality question

That's funny I've got a Nikon Pro-Staff and the optical quality is about on par with my Crossfire II crossbow scope. I've killed a shyt load of game with that Pro-Staff in the past 20 years.

You're rolling the dice with ones a lot more expensive too.

Obviously you have little experience with cheap scopes if you think anything Vortex sells is the worst scope ever.

If you are going to buy Asian glass at least buy the good stuff

I have no idea how Vortex won the latest military contract for optics on the new rifles. I have not had good luck with any Vortex product. I really want to like them, they sponsor a lot of shooting competitions I shoot in, they give a ton of free swag, and they now reside in WI, my home state. At SHOT show a few years ago, we picked up a Vortex scope on display and it rattled. Friends have had optics fog up on the inside. I had a 1800yard range finder of theirs that wouldn't range a hillside past 400. I think there are better options.

Perhaps an NcStar could be worse but I have never used one mounted to a rifle, Obviously you have never used a Vortex Diamondback Tactical.....dreadful glass and a reticle that is even worse.

The Vortex crossfire I have on my crossbow now is far superior optically than the CenterPoint that came on it. I haven't seen truly "dreadful glass" on any scope in the last 30 years except for one of those little 4x15mm scopes that come on kids BB guns. Even those cheap ass blister pack 29.99 Simmons 8 point scopes they sell at Wal-Mart aren't "dreadful" and I know people who have been killing deer with those for years.

I bought a 2-7 and a 3-9 Viper when they first came out. I also bought a Crossfire rimfire 2-7. The Vipers were about the same optically in good light as a 2-7 and 3-9 Fullfield II I was going to replace with the Vipers. In low light the Fullfield’s were much better and since I paid less for them I got rid of the Vipers. The Crossfire was mounted on a Marlin Model 60, it sighted in at 50 yards okay in good light but I haven’t shot the Model 60 since.

Did you ask why that scope is for sale at such a reasonable price?

Any scope that doesn’t adjust easily, doesn’t hold zero, or leaks or fogs internally, is useless to me as a sight, regardless of the “view”or “features”. I may waffle a bit on the first item to get something “vintage appropriate” or for appearance sake as on a rimfire, but the others are hard and fast.

Obviously, build quality or image quality are highly subjective. What some may call "dreadful" is acceptable to others.

In the past 1.5 years I've sorted out two rifles due to horrendous accuracy for friends-of-friends. Each spent a couple hundred bucks in ammo in their frustrations and both owners INSISTED the rifles needed to get sent packing. I chuckled when I learned each scope was a newish, low-to-mid priced Vortex scope on top that a show dog couldn't jump over. I bet each a case of beer that it wasn't the rifle.

I confirmed that each rifle did indeed shoot like dog-doodoo even with some of my reloads (7-08 and .243). I swapped both scopes for a spare VX2 2-12 and each immediately turned into sub MOA shooters.

I swear I'm gonna lose my szchit on the next neophyte that I hear proudly justify their purchase decision with; "I bought the Vortex - if something happens to it, they replace it, brah."

In fairness, I have a couple Razor 1.5-8x32 scopes that I'm generally pleased with the performance to date. While I don't like to get caught up in these debates and consider myself more discerning-optics-guy than I am optics-snob – opinions are like arseholes, I'd personally not mount a lower model Vortex on a dare. OMMV.

Some of you must be half blind. I killed a buck using my Crossfire crossbow scope 20 minutes before sunrise in the woods last season no problem. Anybody who couldn't better get their ass to an optometrist before you accidentally kill somebodys pet pony or worse. It sighted in easily and holds zero on a 370 fps crossbow, which I'm told can be as rough on a scope as a spring piston air rifle. As far as the accuracy I get, I could head shoot squirrels from 40 yards with the damn thing and the speed compensation setting is right on the money. You scope snobs are a fuggin hoot and I have to doubt you could kill a Holstein cow in a pen in broad daylight if you were forced to use iron sights.

Vortex is basically relabeled Chinese or phillipene made stuff. Mostly junk. If it’s made in Japan it’s probably a good unit. Vortex is great at marketing. It’s too bad they basically put bushnell out of business

Bushnell, Simmons, Tasco, Vortex, Burris and others all sell tons of Chinese scopes. They aren't all bad. A goodly share of them work as they should for years and piles of game gets killed with them every season. I doubt the Chinese scopes Vortex sells are significantly different in quality than those from anybody else within the same price range. As far as Philippine scopes, as mentioned before I have a Philippine made Nikon Pro-Staff that has worked perfectly for 20 years and I've killed a big pile of game with it. I try to avoid buying Chinese goods whenever I can but there aren't many crossbow scopes that aren't made in China and none I could find in the price range I was willing to spend for the limited use it would see in our two week crossbow season.

I can confirm that after an Excalibur scope, the “best” they offered at the time, suddenly lost zero in the middle of a pre-season check for its third season. I quickly dug up a Vortex Sparc2 from my box-o-crap, which served until a re-furbed Nikon 3x was found. Could’ve cost me a deer if I’d quit the session one shot earlier and had an opportunity on the first day, but my practice is to unload the bolt when I leave the woods then reload and fire it when I get home, so would’ve caught it then anyway.

The Little Nikon is still in business and I don’t miss the variable power; I just zero it at 30 and the first two aiming points below center work at 40 and 50. BTW one of those Sparc2s lost zero on an airgun and another crapped almost out of the box after about ten rounds on a .357 revolver. Great warranty though 🙄

My dad and I both bought identical rifles recently, his in 35 Whelen, mine in 44mag. He put a Vortex Crossfire on his, I put a Sparc II red dot on mine. His Crossfire kacked after a dozen rounds. The crosshairs rotated about 45 degrees. I’ve put about 20 or so heavy hand loads through mine so far. It looks very promising. And my gun with the red dot weighs less than 6.5lbs so recoil is fairly stout with 265gr Hornadys at 1825fps.

We’ll see how it lasts. I like the set up and hope for good things.

Great warranty though.

Their warranty should just be called a replacement program. The best warranty is one you never have to use. That is the problem, you will very likely use the warranty with Vortex.

Nope!

My two LHT's just keep on going - holding zero, tracking, etc. - despite being told by many they are going to fail at any moment.

You better go buy a lottery ticket.