Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Vortex spotting scopes??

Any Reviews on Vortex spotting scopes. Interested in the Sandpiper or Nomad,,,Anyone have any pros or cons or if they are any good, quality and glass quality??

Vortex is building a new spotter this year with the Razor glass..thats the one to have......

GSP,

I agree with tikkanut's comments about the Razor HD...but it is going to be a $1500+ piece of glass.

In reference to the two you mentioned, I have seen nothing but positive comments about the Sandpiper and I believe Doug is still listing them for $200. That is a substantial savings over the original cost.

In addition, he is also selling a "unbadged" 80 mm scope that is, in truth, the 80 mm version of the Nomad. The kicker is that it, too, is selling for right at $200. I have one and it offers excellent optical performance for the price. The field of view is typical for most zoom eyepiece only scopes but the sharpness, edge sharpness, apparent brightness and contrast are all very good. General construction/fit and finish are also much better than I have experienced with scopes at this price point. Physical size is also very manageable for an 80 mm scope. It is not much bigger or heavier than my Pentax 65.

Hope this helps.

GSP--I have the sandpiper and the only real issue I have is eye relief--Feel like I have to jam my eye into the eyepiece--particularly at higher mag--Bill

billg, How is the scopes contruction? Is it plastic or aluminum houseing and parts? What are the lense caps like, cheap, flimzy push on that fall off easy or nice clip on caps? Do they come with a bench tripod and case? Etc etc...

Rick

I have the 20x60x80 special also. All componets are very nice. The cover is great and well thought out, lense caps are very positive, and the scope is very clear edge to edge. It sure looks, feels, and preforms like alot more than $200.00.

The comments about this one got to me - mine should arrive tomorrow!!

I look forward to hearing your comments.

wyliec,
I'm very interested in the eye relief of the unbadged scope - please post a review.

ttt

I also have the special >$200 80mm Nomad from Cameraland. Far exceeded my expectations. Excellent glass - makes it difficult to stay interesting in spending over 10 times this amount for a Swarovski.

I haven't had a chance to go shooting with the unbranded $200 Vortex 80mm....but it seems well built and clear.

Eye relief is short - I expected this. I wear eyeglasses and my glasses just touch the occular to get a good sight picture. Note that I do NOT have to press against the occular - I have a pair of compact binoculars that I have to press against and it becomes uncomfortable and irritating over time.

I'm very happy with the purchase and have no doubt it will serve my purposes well. I was having trouble justifying $400+ let alone well above that. I feel I have gotten a great product at a cost I was comfortable with!!

Eye reilef aside, is the quality in any way comparable to the Nikon Fieldscope ED?

NO!

GSP7,
I am assuming your name refers to German shorthair pointers... I have a 12 yr. old bitch out of heavy Dixielands Rusty lines. She is the best hunting dog I have ever had, very mellow and methodical in her hunting behavior. In her day she could trail wounded roosters through the CRP forever and pin them at the end of the field predictably. My only regret with Rosie is that I didn't let her have a "Rusty bred" litter of pups when she was younger. I tried to have her bred several times as she got older, never had success, and finally had to have her spayed at age 9 after a bout of pyometra. Sadly enough, all of her litermates are gone and her litter was the last out of her mother who was even better than Rose. Depressing!
Back to spotters! I bought the Sandpiper last fall and used it in Wyoming on an antelope hunt... very impressed! But... bigger is always better, correct? Because of the good reviews here on the 'fire, I bought the 20-60X 80mm "Nomad" several weeks ago and compared the two. The "Nomad" is a little bit bigger than the Sandpiper, but not much. It definitely has better objective and eyepiece caps! For $199 you can get the angled eyepiece for the "Nomad" if that is what you want or like. I compared both at 45X at the range resolving the fine print on targets at 100 yards. I thought the Sandpiper was sharper! I also found the "Nomad" to be just a little "fuzzy" when trying to focus on the fine print at 45-60X. Because of this last observation, I chose to stick with the Sandpiper and sold the "Nomad" to a friend rather than return it to Doug. Both are great values, you can't go wrong with either one. The Cornell University review on a wide spectrum of spotters voted the Sandpiper the best "value" for the $. Makes me feel good about my choice! Good luck.
Todd
BTW, If you are out west and anywhere near a CAL Ranch store, they are closing out their Sightron SII 20-50X80mm for ~$120 and their 20-50X60mm for ~$105. These are a little more compact than the Vortex spotters and maybe even a little more sharp at 50x. Only downside is that their eyepieces and cups are not quite as "modern" as the Vortex's. Not much experience with these scopes out there either from what I could gauge with my questions here on the 'fire. The price is right however!

How is it for picking out bullet holes on targets at longer ranges? ... 300, 400, 500 yds? Anyone used it for that?