Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Leica vs Vortex warranty

I've been around long enough to see a bunch of companies come and go and one that offer lifetime warranties on electronics go guicker than others. Also there is the fact that when you buy Vortex you are supporting a socialist country that we may very well end up in armed conflict with in the not so distant future.
If I'm going to buy an imported product it could a least come from an allied country .

Buying a product for the warranty is like making the decision to date a woman solely by looking at her Mom. Not a bad idea, but she has to be worth a schit in the first place. No way I'm making a decision on a woman or a rangefinder just by what the long term is going to look like.

I have a Leica LRF 1200 that has survived 10 years of abuse - in that time it's spent a year in Iraq and plenty of hunting seasons in the states being beat to schit.

Buy the Leica and be merry.

In the immortal words of Tommy Callahan "I can take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed. I've got spare time". Warrantys don't mean much when you start out with a piece of crap.

Do you Vortex fans have any idea how poor the optics are in this rangefinder in comparison to the CRF 1600B, or for that matter the CRF 1200?? If you actually plan to hunt with the thing, you need to be able to discern your target in low light, against dark backgrounds, etc. and get an accurate range. There is no comparison between the Leupold or Vortex and the Leica. They will work just fine at archery ranges from a treestand, but for a serious rifle hunter or western archery hunter they're not even close.

Leica is good equipment. I have a CRF1200. I also have a Vortex Ranger 1000, and it is most definitely not a piece of crap. I use and have confidence in both of them.

I have not looked through a Leica 1600B, so I can't pass judgment on the optical quality there, but I would suspect it is at least as good as the CRF 1200. I had both my CRF 1200 and my Vortex Ranger out side by side yesterday comparing the optics, and frankly cannot discern a difference in the optical quality. The Vortex Ranger 1000 has good optics, no better than my Leica CRF 1200, but don't knock the Vortex rangefinder optics until you look through one.

I have a CRF1600B and it hangs on my bino straps and it has its share of dings and scratches on it from bow hunting. It has fallen off my bench at least once and I belly crawled with it 300 yards in Wyoming last year while it was attached to my chest. It is still going strong and is fast and accurate.

A good friend of mine has had his 1200 to Africa a few times and hunts hard and his is holding up after many years.

The Leica is a good piece of equipment. can't comment on the CS as I haven't needed it as of yet.

In my original post I concluded that the Leica has better glass , but not enought for me see a HUGE difference. Im glad to hear the Leicas are holding up good. That being said one wrong drop and you might be out your favorite RF.

I truly do believe Vortex is in this for the ling haul and wont be goin g out of business anytime soon. I also believe that their warranty plays a huge factor in people buying their product, there for the argument the a company who offers a lifetime warranty on their RF does not hold water with me.

I'd bet most of the Vortex RF bashers haven't ever laid eyes on one, except for Drum, who I know has.

FWIW, I had two Leica 1200 CRF's and they were both a piece of crap. None of 'em are 100% bulletproof.

Huh - Don't know why anyone would lie about having tried one. I didn't need more than one trip around the archery range one evening late last summer to see that the Vortex has poor optics. The Leupold and the Vortex aren't as good as the Leica, I really can't believe that there is so much arguement about this. They are low end rangefinders that are at best functional under a lot of conditions, just not so much in low light against a dark background. If that is what you want to buy/can afford, then by all means do so. Spend a little more money and you'll have an excellent piece of gear instead of a compromise. I'm speaking from experience here, you get what you pay for in rangefinders.