Sully2
Well-Known Member
Sure they do...but one has to look at the number and percentage of good items VS screwups to get whats good
VORTEX RAZOR HD Spotting Scope Failure
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Sure they do...but one has to look at the number and percentage of good items VS screwups to get whats good
bigngreen
Well-Known Member
When I look around and what everyone I know uses I don't see an Zeiss to compare to, their no even a player as far as I'm concerned!
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
You have mega bucks, go get yourself a Swarovski and be done with it.....
I just pinged the guy on the video who is having the issue; he sent it back and got a full refund and got a Kowa instead --- very happy with it thus far.
Cheers!
Cheers!
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Sully2
Well-Known Member
Ive heard from various sources that Kowa are very good scopes
Sully2
Well-Known Member
What does that mean?? When you look around and everyone was shooting Savages...does that mean THEY are "the best"??
Sully2
Well-Known Member
Leica; Swaro and Zeiss....choosing the best of those 3 brands is like trying to pick the fly **** out of pepper. Dammed tough to do.
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
That all comes down to the depth of your wallet and how mild mannered your wife is. Mine had a fit when she found out I bought a a pair of Swaro EL's
I sure like the Celestron 100 ED. More than good enough for me.
I've used a Zeiss 15-45x60 for the past ~8 years. It's an improvement over the 12-40x Leupold I'd used the 6 years prior to the Zeiss, which is why I upgraded. The Leupold was more compact, but the Zeiss has better optics/glass. Not sure what this has to do with this Vortex Thread, as I have no idea how my Zeiss compares to the Vortex Razor. At least the eyepiece rotates. 
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bigngreen
Well-Known Member
I've put razors and Swaro side by side a number of times, bought the Razor. Of the guys I know who ran Swaro only one still does, all are running razors or NightForce.
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
Interesting. I did a side by side comparo of the Razor and the Celestron on my private range at 300 yards, both set at 50X and none of us could observe any difference in image quality, vignetting or gathering capability.
The differences were, the Razor is a straight ocular, the Regal is an angled and the Regal is bigger (but it has to be) simply because with a 100mm objective, the focal length is longer. Both run the same prism's as well.
Where the Regal really stands above the Razor is at dusk. The 100mm objective has much better light gathering capability.
Both the Regal and the Razor use a 1.25" objective, so, any objective is useable, Swaro included. I bought the accessory LER eyepiece. While it don't have the extreme magnification the standard eyepiece has, it's easier to look through, especially if you wear glasses. I really son't like getting 'close up and personal' with an eyepiece and the Celestron LER eliminates that. You can actually be off the eyepiece an inch or two and the image is clear.
We could clearly see .223 prints on the targets with both, no difference in clarity at all.
I prefer the focus adjustment on the Regal over the Razor, but thats a personal preference.
Price wise, the Regal has it over the Razor in spades, about half the retail price of the Razor.
The Regal has the same magnesium body and armor coat as the Razor, I suspect they both came from the same Chinese factory, I know the Zen Ray and the Regal share the same heritage.
The reason I think that the Razor and the Regal share the same heritage is the ballistic nylon overcovers are almost exactly identical, right down to the zipper pulls.
After my 2300 buck Swaro's, there was no way my wife would let me drop 1500 clams on a spotter so I did my homework and with the help of OP and a nice discount coupon I got what I consider an excellent spotter at a really good price.
All optics have a huge markup attached, just like most consumer goods today. The retail price and the actual manufacturing cost are distant numbers.
I'm waiting patiently for Vortex to release their CF tripod kit so I can get one with my Cabelas points...lol
Celestron don't even advertise the Regal as a spotter. It's advertised as an astronomical scope 'for casual observance of heavenly bodies'.
We exhanged eyepieces from the Razor and the Regal a couple times and could see no difference in any observable aspect.
I guess I could spy on my neighbors with it. The gal down the road has a heavenly body.....lol Don't want my wife to catch me......
The differences were, the Razor is a straight ocular, the Regal is an angled and the Regal is bigger (but it has to be) simply because with a 100mm objective, the focal length is longer. Both run the same prism's as well.
Where the Regal really stands above the Razor is at dusk. The 100mm objective has much better light gathering capability.
Both the Regal and the Razor use a 1.25" objective, so, any objective is useable, Swaro included. I bought the accessory LER eyepiece. While it don't have the extreme magnification the standard eyepiece has, it's easier to look through, especially if you wear glasses. I really son't like getting 'close up and personal' with an eyepiece and the Celestron LER eliminates that. You can actually be off the eyepiece an inch or two and the image is clear.
We could clearly see .223 prints on the targets with both, no difference in clarity at all.
I prefer the focus adjustment on the Regal over the Razor, but thats a personal preference.
Price wise, the Regal has it over the Razor in spades, about half the retail price of the Razor.
The Regal has the same magnesium body and armor coat as the Razor, I suspect they both came from the same Chinese factory, I know the Zen Ray and the Regal share the same heritage.
The reason I think that the Razor and the Regal share the same heritage is the ballistic nylon overcovers are almost exactly identical, right down to the zipper pulls.
After my 2300 buck Swaro's, there was no way my wife would let me drop 1500 clams on a spotter so I did my homework and with the help of OP and a nice discount coupon I got what I consider an excellent spotter at a really good price.
All optics have a huge markup attached, just like most consumer goods today. The retail price and the actual manufacturing cost are distant numbers.
I'm waiting patiently for Vortex to release their CF tripod kit so I can get one with my Cabelas points...lol
Celestron don't even advertise the Regal as a spotter. It's advertised as an astronomical scope 'for casual observance of heavenly bodies'.
We exhanged eyepieces from the Razor and the Regal a couple times and could see no difference in any observable aspect.
I guess I could spy on my neighbors with it. The gal down the road has a heavenly body.....lol Don't want my wife to catch me......
Sully2
Well-Known Member
sounds good...but untrue. I dont have deep pockets but FINANCIALLY can afford to buy any optic on the market...scope...spotting scope...bino's. But I wont! Im not bragging..just saying the truth is all. Same with a rifle....I could afford to have (almost) any maker build me a good rifle.. But for my 300 WinMag...I went with a factory M70.
Wish I had read this before I bought my 20-60 Razor. It locked up at approx. 38 deg.then Voetex warranty dept told me the only option to sending it in (I need it for the next few weeks of hunting) was to BUY a new one and theyd send a shipping label to return the old one.
Someone here just said this thread would turn into Vortex bashing. They're right. I purchased the scope at least 8 months after they were aware of the problem so (1) they should have been testing the eyepieces in cold temps and (2) they shouldn't have made me jump through the hoop of sending scopes back and forth.
I became a Vortex fan a couple years ago when I bought Razor 10 x 42 binocs, bought two more pairs of binocs and influenced several friends to by their products. Now I'll be more careful endorsing them and would never buy a rifle scope from them ( that was the next purchase I was considering). Spotting scope failure on a hunt is a bad deal but rifle scope problems can be catostrophic.
Someone here just said this thread would turn into Vortex bashing. They're right. I purchased the scope at least 8 months after they were aware of the problem so (1) they should have been testing the eyepieces in cold temps and (2) they shouldn't have made me jump through the hoop of sending scopes back and forth.
I became a Vortex fan a couple years ago when I bought Razor 10 x 42 binocs, bought two more pairs of binocs and influenced several friends to by their products. Now I'll be more careful endorsing them and would never buy a rifle scope from them ( that was the next purchase I was considering). Spotting scope failure on a hunt is a bad deal but rifle scope problems can be catostrophic.
OK, I'll be fair and update. I called Vortex and was told they were aware that it was a common problem with the "last shipment" (must have been a pretty big shipment), but all the new ones are tested in cold temps. Also they replace the whole scope because some people have forced the locked up eye pieces and damaged the internals. As usual, their customer service was excellent so I'll back down a little. The scope's going in the freezer as soon as it arrives though.
On another note, that scope has been replaced with a 27 - 60 that costs a lot more. Seems like not being able to go down to 20 power is a step backwards, but maybe that's just me.
On another note, that scope has been replaced with a 27 - 60 that costs a lot more. Seems like not being able to go down to 20 power is a step backwards, but maybe that's just me.
