Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Spotting scope - Vortex

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?