Vortex

[Mr.Snerdly]

What is the verdict on their quality? I have a 243 that I could shoot good groups with occasionally but about half the times they had me baffled. I blamed my technique which no doubt is not perfect but after trying many things I put a Redfield Revolution on I had and the rifle is much more consistent and gets smaller groups. Is there any point of trying to get warranty on this or are they like about every other outfit--basically a lot of advertising, talk and no action?

This isn't their cheap scope either. It is far from the top but should be decent, Viper 6.5-20 44MM.

[celltech]

The Vortex warranty is outstanding. You can blow a .338 round through the scope, send it in, and they will replace it. So send it in...

That being said I have owned 2 PST G2s and was not impressed. One had to go back for a erector that was binding and I have not been impressed with the optical performance or how stiff the controls are. There are so many other good choices now that I have no intention on buying another Vortex. But if you beat the hell out of gear a Vortex might be good insurance.

[justpassinthru]

Vortex warranty is great.

[Robinhood]

Some of their scopes are great. The rest have given Vortex the "Great Warranty" Reputation.

[hamiltonkiler]

This is my thought. I have had some of their products.
So these are my questions for you to think about.

If you spend the time to mount, sight in, burn ammo, do you want to take off and replace if need be because yours slipped through quality control?

If your on a hunt, or at the club, or at the range. You might be on a paid guided hunt and your optics fail because they slipped quality control, are you going to be happy?

If your glassing or toss your glass in a shooting bag and they fail because of materials engineered or quality control are you going to be happy?

If it’s the middle of hunting season and you have to deal without optics for a week for a return are you going to accept it?

Hey, I understand it can happen to all optics.
I appreciate their warranty. I have used it multiple times.

If a company can afford to just ship out a new set no questions asked there is a couple of things going on. Well two.
One. The quality is so good they don’t expect many returns.
Or two
They are producing so cheap and over charging in the first place it’s no sweat to send a first or second until you give up.

My opinion vortex does both.
They have high end. And low end.

Vortex is a great company
From marketing to warranty

Most all optics. You get what you pay for.

Cough cough
I choose SWFA products for scopes.


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[Mr.Snerdly]

Some of their scopes are great. The rest have given Vortex the "Great Warranty" Reputation.

This is a Viper 6.5-20 44MM. I know it is by far not their best but it is considerably higher priced than the china junk they peddle. What is the Viper reputation? The Revolution seems to be at least as clear with better eye relief and they advertise it as holding up to a pretty powerful caliber. I wish it had a little more magnification but overall it is a nice scope for the money. A 243 should be nothing for either scope.

[Txhillbilly]

The only Vortex scopes that I would have any trust in would be the Razor series. They are very good quality scopes. All of the lower quality series are known to have issues / failures, and that's where Vortex's "Great" warranty comes into play.

If you can live with the knowledge that you may have to use Vortex's warranty once or even several times while you own / use one, then I guess you're just the kind of sucker that they appeal to.
I buy product's for their quality, not because of their warranty!

[nksmfamjp]

I’m loaded down with Vortex. They make a good optic. I have been happy with optical quality. Understand that the specifics of this are going to vary a lot shooter to shooter.

I also really like their turrets and reticles. They have been quick to react to market feedback and get things right. Without bashing, I’ll just say several big name brands will miss on reticle design and just kind of stick their head in the mud until they get around to a fix years later.

The zero stop works well, but is a bit funky in setup. If you sight in the right way, it is easy, but it is harder to set if you sight in, then want the zero stop to work.

I would also look at Athlon. I hate buying Chinese optics, but Athlon seems to be one upping Vortex a bit.

[Robinhood]

This is a Viper 6.5-20 44MM. I know it is by far not their best but it is considerably higher priced than the china junk they peddle. What is the Viper reputation? The Revolution seems to be at least as clear with better eye relief and they advertise it as holding up to a pretty powerful caliber. I wish it had a little more magnification but overall it is a nice scope for the money. A 243 should be nothing for either scope.

The Viper is China quality.

Good posts hamiltonkiler and nksmfamjp

[DonB]

My experience (FWIW) has been very good with Vortex products. I have three of their scopes, two Vipers on my .223 and .300 WM and a Golden Eagle on my .338 Lapua, all Savage rifles. The .223 holds .25” groups at 100 yds. The .300 WM .75” groups at 200 yds and the .338 Lapua is for playing around at the 1 mile mark. It will consistently hit a 16” gong, with my best group being 10.25” so far. (My grandson can usually get a 8.75”group with it, but doesn’t have to deal with bad eyesight and arthritic hands) Both the larger rifles pack a pretty good recoil for the scopes to deal with, but so far so good. No failures yet, but who knows what the future may bring.

[Mr.Snerdly]

I think they can be a good scope but I have 2 Vipers and I sent one in for repair and will be sending a second one. Just must be a quality control problem. They are clear and everything but I was fighting my 243 for quite some time. Finally put the Redfield Revolution back on and the last 2 groups were .4 and .6 MOA.

[Robinhood]

Cyclops on youtube does nothing but scope reviews. He gives every scope maker the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes I think he is full of it. The other day I saw him throw Vortex under the bus. In The Video he tells you why he would never buy another one. Everyone is selling their Vortex scopes because they have to return them 3 or four times. After that they don't want to take a chance on them in a critical situation.

Something happened to that company several years ago. I don't know what it is but they just cant keep up with quality. I never want to use the warranty on a scope. I know the Gen 2 Razor is considered great for the price and you can pic them up on sale for under 2000, but for me I can't support a company who has so many failures.

[Txhillbilly]

Cyclops on youtube does nothing but scope reviews. He gives every scope maker the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes I think he is full of it. The other day I saw him throw Vortex under the bus. In The Video he tells you why he would never buy another one. Everyone is selling their Vortex scopes because they have to return them 3 or four times. After that they don't want to take a chance on them in a critical situation.

Something happened to that company several years ago. I don't know what it is but they just cant keep up with quality. I never want to use the warranty on a scope. I know the Gen 2 Razor is considered great for the price and you can pic them up on sale for under 2000, but for me I can't support a company who has so many failures.

Cyclops always cracks me up. His reviews are usually pretty honest about the product that he's testing.

The Gen 2 Razor's are fantastic scopes, but they are really heavy and then only come in that awful color.
I just don't understand why they don't offer them in Black. They did make a limited edition in black at one time.

[GrenGuy]

I took Cyclops’ advise and bought a SWFA 20 power, which He suggested was nearly indescribable. It appears to have failed Me. I don’t know what the warranty situation is on it ?

[hamiltonkiler]

I took Cyclops’ advise and bought a SWFA 20 power, which He suggested was nearly indescribable. It appears to have failed Me. I don’t know what the warranty situation is on it ?

They are just as good as vortex. Call em and they will replace it with anything on their web sight of equal value.
Because.. most or the ss or ss HD’s are sold out.
I recently bought a demo model with a blemish on the bell/tube and a hair scratch on the lense. No problem for me. My rifle and scope is a tool.
Cheers


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[geneackley]

This is my thought. I have had some of their products.
So these are my questions for you to think about.

If you spend the time to mount, sight in, burn ammo, do you want to take off and replace if need be because yours slipped through quality control?

If your on a hunt, or at the club, or at the range. You might be on a paid guided hunt and your optics fail because they slipped quality control, are you going to be happy?

If your glassing or toss your glass in a shooting bag and they fail because of materials engineered or quality control are you going to be happy?

If it’s the middle of hunting season and you have to deal without optics for a week for a return are you going to accept it?

Hey, I understand it can happen to all optics.
I appreciate their warranty. I have used it multiple times.

If a company can afford to just ship out a new set no questions asked there is a couple of things going on. Well two.
One. The quality is so good they don’t expect many returns.
Or two
They are producing so cheap and over charging in the first place it’s no sweat to send a first or second until you give up.

My opinion vortex does both.
They have high end. And low end.

Vortex is a great company
From marketing to warranty

Most all optics. You get what you pay for.

Cough cough
I choose SWFA products for scopes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Vortex sucks, SWFA rocks!!!

[geneackley]

I took Cyclops’ advise and bought a SWFA 20 power, which He suggested was nearly indescribable. It appears to have failed Me. I don’t know what the warranty situation is on it ?

I dont know about their 20 power scopes. To me I think its maybe trying to squeeze too much out of the "budget Japanese optics".... I do however love their fixed ten power "super sniper" models, especially the one with the side parallax. I have a few of those and have not had a single problem. They do have a lifetime warranty... Call them.

[jkv45]

I dont know about their 20 power scopes. To me I think its maybe trying to squeeze too much out of the "budget Japanese optics".... I do however love their fixed ten power "super sniper" models, especially the one with the side parallax. I have a few of those and have not had a single problem. They do have a lifetime warranty... Call them.

I have 10x and 12x SWFA scopes, and they have been very good. Sharp, bright, accurate.

Before buying I researched their 16x and 20x scopes, and generally they weren't as well-liked or as sharp optically - but others have been happy with them.

[yobuck]

Regardless as to the quality of the optics, the rule is that as the power is increased the image quality is decreased.

[celltech]

I have owned 12X and 20X SWFA SS scopes. If a fixed power scope is your thing then the 12X is awesome, but the 20X is just too compromised IMHO. Eye relief is tiny and it's hard to sit behind it. The glass quality is also lacking to be at that high of magnification. The 20X bothered me enough that I sold it...

[geneackley]

In the past (like in Vietnam), I believe many military snipers limited themselves to ten power scopes. It gave them a wider field of view and reduced mirages from ground heat waves.

In my youth I was an amateur astronomer and built several telescopes. However I only built Newtonian reflectors, not refractors.

But anyway, upon greater magnification, the curvature of your lenses has to be very much more precise in order to yield a quality image. The quality of the glass that the light travels through in the case of a refractor also has to be more outstanding with higher magnification. EVERYTHING gets more critical as you increase magnification which also why I only stick to lower powers. Plus I get the extra eye relief!!!

So a scope that yields a higher magnification must by necessity be of greater quality ( and therefore cost ) than one that is of a fixed lower power. The fixed scope also has fewer lenses for light to travel through (each one contributing its own share of distortion and image degradation), as well as fewer moving parts that must do so very precisely in order to not have a shift in your point of impact.

Bottom line, all things being equal, you can make a very good low power fixed scope much more easily and inexpensively than a variable and higher power scope. I am therefore SUSPECT of any cheap variable power scope, which is why I love the fixed 10 power SWFAs... especially at 300 bucks a pop! You can't beat them and they are built to US NAVY specs as per an old military contract. Look up their story; Its pretty interesting.

[Txhillbilly]

I'm a scope snob, LOL.
In my teens and twenties, scope quality didn't matter much to me. (1) Because I didn't want to spend the money. (2) Because I didn't have the Optical Knowledge (3) Because I mainly hunted, and most of my shots were under 300 yards.
In my thirties, I started shooting long range and found out quick that cheap quality scopes sucked. For the last 25+ years, I save every dime I can in order to buy the best scopes that I can.

Straight powered scopes work great for certain types of shooting, but most people prefer variable magnification scopes for the variety of shooting that they allow the shooter to do with them.
If you have never used or owned a quality scope in the $1k - $3k+ price range, then you will never know what you are missing in what good optics really are. Once you look thru and use a High quality precision scope, you won't ever look at a cheap quality scope again.

[stomp442]

Nice to see so many other people are finally starting to realize the truth about Vortex quality. I have been saying they suck for years and got nothing but back lash from the Warranty fan boys. Lots of better options out there at similar price points.

[yobuck]

I'm a scope snob, LOL.
In my teens and twenties, scope quality didn't matter much to me. (1) Because I didn't want to spend the money. (2) Because I didn't have the Optical Knowledge (3) Because I mainly hunted, and most of my shots were under 300 yards.
In my thirties, I started shooting long range and found out quick that cheap quality scopes sucked. For the last 25+ years, I save every dime I can in order to buy the best scopes that I can.

Straight powered scopes work great for certain types of shooting, but most people prefer variable magnification scopes for the variety of shooting that they allow the shooter to do with them.
If you have never used or owned a quality scope in the $1k - $3k+ price range, then you will never know what you are missing in what good optics really are. Once you look thru and use a High quality precision scope, you won't ever look at a cheap quality scope again.

Well we could have a very long and very useless debate over this topic.
But to my mind at least they need not be the best, but do need to be good enough to get the job done by the person using them.
I have a Leupold on my 300 Norma, and a Nightforce on my 338.
If somebody stole the Nightforce, id be replacing it with a Leupold.
And thats not intended as a knock against Nightforce.
Same goes for the large tripod mounted binoculars we use.
Some guys will find more deer than others.
And if the others get better glasses, the same guy will still find more deer.

[jkv45]

I'm a scope snob, LOL.
In my teens and twenties, scope quality didn't matter much to me. (1) Because I didn't want to spend the money. (2) Because I didn't have the Optical Knowledge (3) Because I mainly hunted, and most of my shots were under 300 yards.
In my thirties, I started shooting long range and found out quick that cheap quality scopes sucked. For the last 25+ years, I save every dime I can in order to buy the best scopes that I can.

Straight powered scopes work great for certain types of shooting, but most people prefer variable magnification scopes for the variety of shooting that they allow the shooter to do with them.
If you have never used or owned a quality scope in the $1k - $3k+ price range, then you will never know what you are missing in what good optics really are. Once you look thru and use a High quality precision scope, you won't ever look at a cheap quality scope again.

What's your favorite in that price range?