Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Vortex quality question

I have a chance to pick up a Vortex Viper HS 30mm scope at a reasonable price. How do these rate for quality?

I had a Viper 6.5x20x50. I bought it on closeout at Academy for just over 200 bucks. After one range session with it, I pulled it off and sold it. It wasn't bright or sharp. It induced eye fatigue pretty quickly. It did behave pretty well getting it sighted in.

I have tried several times to like Vortex products - some upper end Razors and Vipers but they have always left me wanting. Multiple scopes and binos. I'm not a full on optics snob, I own some Leupolds, Burris and a Swarovski CL8x30 bino that I am satisfied with. The only Vortex that I still own is a 13-33X50 Viper Spotting scope. Mostly due to how handy it is.

I bought one $600 Vortex about 7 ish years ago! I took it back off the first week and sold it! I put a SWFA 6 back on my rifle and it shot little tiny groups again. I won't be buying another Vortex. My opinion is there a good scope but not a great scope

I have a Vortex Razor 1-6x24 on an AR-15 I shoot in competition. It's a good scope, but I don't have any experience with the lower end Vortex optics.

The Razor is the only good to go IMHO but the PST's can be hit or miss.

I don't know a thing about the more expensive Vortex scopes but two buddies of mine bought 3-9 Diamondbacks on sale last year and I've heard no complaints. Between them they killed 7 deer using those scopes last season so apparently they work OK. I myself bought a Vortex Crossfire II crossbow scope last year and so far it's worked great for me. I killed two deer with it last season.

I have an older viper on my 22-250 it has been very good below 17 power is clear & sharp higher a bit fuzzy but shoots quarter sized 10 shot.groups . Lower models not impressed with quality- had to send back a scope for a woman shooter they were sponsoring? Son in law put one of the newer PSTs on his 300 Weatherby & loves it.

They're fine for deer hunting. Since Nikon quit making scopes Vortex feels the niche for folks that don't want to spend huge $$$ on a scope. OTOH a cheaper Burris would be about the same. Both back They're warranties

Picked up a Vortex Diamondback 3-9x40 on sale last December for muzzleloader deer season. It sighted in easily and the adjustments were correct and crisp. We usually hunt thickish woods so 100 yards is a long shot more often than not. Early cloudy morning with visibility not the greatest, it had no problem picking up the first deer it saw at 80 yards against a tough background. DRT.

Had 2 vipers that power rings locked up and vortex would not fix them. I found a 6-24 really lost clarity after 20x. No more for me

They don’t impress me, easy pass.

You but anyone's scope that cheap you're rolling the dice

Something not yet mentioned is Vortex and where they are manufactured........some of their better scopes are made in the Philippines ........the dog schitt scopes are made in China.

I only own one Vortex scope and it is OK........was sighting in one of my friend's rifles for a prairie dog shoot last weekend, his rifle had a Vortex Diamondback tactical made in China on it , worst scope ever !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only thing worth a [bleep] is the Razor line, that being said, they are hard to beat

LHT and Razor Gen 3 scopes are as good as ANTHING on the market. Not to mention their warranty is insane...........
Everything else Vortex is a Crap Shoot. Razor anything is bomber

I agree with this statement. My PST was a miss imo. It was not clear and sharp in the higher power range.

The one I had was a POS and was sold a day after buying it. A Nikon Prostaff had better optical qualities. IMO the ONLY Vortex scopes to even consider are Razors.

Stupid fu cks can keep falling for Vortex.

Most all cheap scopes suck. Most non-European scopes suck. Some of the Japanese stuff is good to go, to include the Razor. The rest of the Vortex line is mediocre at best. I currently have one non-Razor Vortex. Its a PST. It tracks and holds zero better than my Leupolds. Have I mentioned how terrible Leupolds are, too? Yeah stick with Euros.

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.

I've bought several Vortex "Crossfire II" 3-9×40. I still have one on an AR10 .308.
It's... uhhmmm... ok, but it damn sure ain't a Leopold! 😜
...but anymore, if you're not willing to drop $300/$400 on decent glass, you're just screwed! 🤬

The days of a $65 Weaver K4 or a nice Leupold VX-I for less than $200 are O-V-E-R!

I really like this post.

All the dumb muther [bleep] Vortex bashers buying bottom of the barrel crossfires and wondering why the Chinese [bleep] pieces of [bleep] don't work/last. Idiots. Go buy a blister pack from Walmart you dumb ass bastid fuggs.

Vortex Warranty is without question the best in the industry. Even for dumb Fudds...........who think a $200 scope is going to track or work properly, let alone last.

Vortex Razor line is bomber, as is most anything coming out of LOW in Japan.

Razor LHT Are FUGGIN BOMB.....................
Gen 2 Razors/ Gen 3 Razors........BOMBER

Buy cheap as [bleep] and get cheap as results..................

Atleast Vortex will take care of your dumbss............without question

I just wish everyone would buy a couple of Vortex's and get it over with. People who believe everything they see on the internet make me tired.

Nailed it.

I don't like em

Details?

DF

I like this post as well except for the fact that I have never seen a VX2 2-12

Yes, razors are the only line worth owning in their scopes. All else will fail. The problem is there are a ton of options before you get to the Razor lines and many feel they should be good enough. Even the Viper line leaves much to be desired, all the while having a not-so-cheap price tag. I had a PST fail, sent a new one that was bad new-in-box and then they sent me a third. I took it from the box, twisted the turret a time or two, and decided to sell it and spare the heartache. For the $850 or whatever I spent on it, it was nothing to write home about.

The curious thing is how much better their binocular lines seem, from top to bottom, than the scopes. It is quite odd.

Oh, and I'm not defending Vortex's [bleep] quality control on low end models. Athlon seems to use a much more reliable OEM to produce their Chinese scopes.

The incredible success of Vortex goes to show how few rounds most purchasers actually fire down range. Let alone are capable of shooting well enough to know if they are shooting 3 MOA groups because they have a rabbit flinch shooting the ole 0'6, or the scope isn't functioning properly.

That being said, anyone who spends less than $1,000 on a scope gets what she deserves.

I don't know how Vortex puts up with Fudds. But, they do and are quite successful doing so .

Their razor line is the best of the best coming out of Japan and I can hit it with a hammer, take a [bleep] on it, and they will send me a prepaid overnight UPS shipping label, replace it no questions and send me a free hat for my "trouble"

I fuggin love Vortex.................Razors

See, that's the thing about it all. Other manufacturers seem to be able to make more economy lines with much better results. Burris FF for example is a rather reliable piece for an attractive price...align that with a Crossfire at the same price and one can see a huge discrepancy. I think Vortex has seen most of its success because they market very well.

That being said, the minute of white-tail, box of shells every few years types are good with em.

Best warranty, lol what a joke! They wouldnt let me send the 2 vipers i had problems with back. Said they would not fix them. Oh thats a great warranty

That's interesting, first I've ever heard of them refusing a warranty. I mean, they don't fix anything but swap stuff.

Curious how you know so much about Vortex and inexpensive scopes in general seeing as how you're such a knowledgeable optics connoisseur and could never be duped into buying or using such junk.

He probably saw you defending them and correctly assumed they were garbage.

I can't really defend them as I only have the one Vortex crossbow scope. Maybe I've just been lucky but so far it's worked fine. Other than that, all I know is that my two buddies killed more deer last season with their new Diamondbacks than you have in the last 10 years.

I've only used 2 of them sighting in rifles for friends. I didn't study glass and all that stuff, just sighted in.

First was on a .338 Lapua. I'm not sure the model but it was FFP and high power. It seemed to have a one shot delay on adjustments. Adjustments seemed to match the reticle. Wasn't a problem to sight in once the 1 shot delay was identified. Rifle was a Christiansen Arms MPR, new rifle, owner had never fired it, wanted it 0'd at 300 with reloads taken from an internet list of "accurate loads".....it was a very accurate rifle and the 300 yard 3 shot group was impressive.

Second was on a .308, Viper PST 5-25x50. I don't know which Gen it was as I'm not familiar with them and didn't research them. It was a FFP scope. Adjustments did not seem to match the reticle and adjustments weren't consistent. It was quite a pain sighting it in. After finishing this one I was pretty angry.

I didn't go through the rings/bases on either of these and I didn't mount them. There could be issues there. I don't know the accuracy potential of the .308 with the loads I was given....the trigger was pretty heavy.

So the only 2 I've played with, the first had a 1 shot adjustment delay and the second was a flustercluck. Others aside from those may be great....but I'd be hard pressed to purchase any of their models with SWFA and Nightforce SHV options available.

I like and own Leupold optics and no doubt Leupold is my favorite but i've owned several Vortex scopes and bino's and still own a few. The only one i've had trouble with was a Crossfire 8x42 bino and they sent me a new pair. I have a pair of Diamondback and Viper 10x42's and i've had no problems what so ever with either of those. I had an older model 2.5x10x44 Viper that i gave my brother and he still uses it and fills his tags every season with it as i did when i had it. Have a Diamondback 2x7x35 rimfire on a 22mag that has also been flawless as has an older model Diamondback 3x9x40 on a 243 for my son. I can't say anything bad about Vortex because the Vortex products i've owned with the exception of one has been ok for me. No doubt they don't compare to the higher end stuff thats out there but they don't carry that price tag either. I personally think with optics you get what you pay for and i also think for the average shooter or hunter Vortex works without breaking the bank. Mike