• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

New Vortex Viper HD 15-45x65 and 20-60x80 spotters coming soon (2 Viewers)

Kevin Purcell

Kevin Purcell

Well-known member
Interesting comments from Scott Berish of Liberty Optics from the SHOT Show 2011

http://libertyoptics.blogspot.com/2011/01/shot-show-day-1-aka-my-head-is-spinning.html

You guys know how much I generally loathe "Made in China" spotting scopes for serious work and the old Vortex Skyline ED models were no exception. Well, Vortex has a new Viper HD series of spotters that looks like is takes Chinese spotters to a whole 'nother level. Two models, 20-60x80 and 15-45x65 feature a heavy rubber armor and picatinny accessory rail, dual focus in both straight or angled models. Within the confines of the show floor the image seemed to have a high resolution and excellent brightness, seeing every detail the Razor HD spotter mounted by its side could see. Available in spring, we will test this spotter outdoors because the pricetag of $799 MAP (20-60x model) demands it. The spec sheet reads like a top end spotter so keep this on your radar and look for the upcoming reviews.
Click to expand...

Availible in both sizes in both straight and angled.

And HD (ED?) and non-HD with $100 price difference.

Clearly we could do without the "heavy rubber armor and picatinny accessory rail" but if you need to determine the exact distance to the bird you could stick a rangefinder on that rail ...

Vortex have web pages for them

http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/vortex-viper-hd-15-45x65-angled-spotting-scope
http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/vortex-viper-hd-20-60x80-straight-spotting-scope

and so does Eagle Optics

http://www.eagleoptics.com/spotting-scopes/vortex?page=2&sort=best-selling&specials=all

So now Vortex has a scope range to match their binocular range: Razor, Viper, and so on with four different brands (the Skyline and Nomad don't match up).

http://www.vortexoptics.com/category/spotting_scopes
 
Last edited:
These sound nice. Hoped maybe I might be able to get a look at these at the upcoming Winter Wings Festival. There is a good Vortex - Swarovski dealer who always shows up here. I called him this morning and asked if he'd have any of the new HD line. He'll have the binoculars,they were supposed to get to Vortex today but this big storm may cause difficulty. He said no Viper spotters till mid May.
 
You can also mount a red dot finder on that rail,and point the scope with total accuracy to catch flying birds ...I have used one for years on my vixen Geoma,and I love it,..it changes the way You use a scope totally,..I was able to mount it in the ED50 too,but is not always easy ,so this accesory rail is very welcomed...
 
I was looking at the enlarged photos on the Vortex site and noticed that this scope has an offset EP: an oversized Schimdt-Pechan prism perhaps?

That eyepiece offset gives a place to put the accessory rail.

I presume a related sort of design to the Nikon Fieldscopes and the Theron scopes? The external enclosure looks rather different and it's a dual speed "regular focuser" (moving a focusing lens rather than porro prisms) rather than a helical focuser.

So there seem to be three different "higher end" Chinese ED spotter designs: the Bosma/Theron; the Zen Ray ED2 and thse Vortex Viper scopes.

http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/vortex-viper-hd-20-60x80-angled-spotting-scope

The scope foot looks beveled too. To fit a Manfrotto head? They don't claim that as a feature.
 
One thing that they sure(Vortex) do well is aesthetics...body design,armor,finish,color, ,shape...they are good looking and do surely have a personal style,away from the more generic look of other brands,including Bushnell or newer Swift models....that aspect of VX(I even like their logo) is very attractive...
I took a look to the manual and saw that the eyepiece is not fixed,(!!!)and it attaches to the body via a threaded external retaining collar,instead of a bayonet or an inner thread("Ala" Nikon)..an Astro adapter seems quite possible to adapt to such mount,and easy to make too...
 
Last edited:
Put a red dot sight on that rail and You have a high tech answer to the Kimmo/Korhann cable tie sight.

Only problem is the small, unobtrusive holographic style are almost as spendy as the scope.
 
Last edited:
I have one that costs 40 dollars,WO style..and as obtrussive as it may seem ,woks great..havent seen the Holographic type,but there are quite small ones,used for air rifles i think and very very cheap...Ther cable tie type of sight only gives a point in space a totally subjective reference to align the view..the red dot is only visible from ONE point ,If you move your head side to saide it dissapears until the eye and the scope are aligned..Very useful to digiscopers too....You can zero in flying birds quite often,at 30X ,not with cable tie,in my experience..It surprises me that more high end brand didnt use this rail in their last upgrades of models, or at least offer an accessory type that can be adapted to....mmm time to go the drawing board!!!!
 
Kevin Purcell said:
I was looking at the enlarged photos on the Vortex site and noticed that this scope has an offset EP: an oversized Schimdt-Pechan prism perhaps?

That eyepiece offset gives a place to put the accessory rail.

I presume a related sort of design to the Nikon Fieldscopes and the Theron scopes? The external enclosure looks rather different and it's a dual speed "regular focuser" (moving a focusing lens rather than porro prisms) rather than a helical focuser.

So there seem to be three different "higher end" Chinese ED spotter designs: the Bosma/Theron; the Zen Ray ED2 and thse Vortex Viper scopes.

http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/vortex-viper-hd-20-60x80-angled-spotting-scope

The scope foot looks beveled too. To fit a Manfrotto head? They don't claim that as a feature.
Click to expand...

I think this time the offset comes from a Porro prism rather than an oversized Schmidt. The Porro offset in scopes can be vertical (usually up or rarely down as in the old Swarovski ST/AT scopes) or horizontal (Kowa TSN 822/824) or anything in between. This one appears to have the offset pointing to about 10:00 as viewed from the back.
 
Last edited:
That's a good point, Henry. Just like bins.

Though I've never seen one in with a porro orientation other than vertical but that's why the Kowa 823 looks a bit odd. It's more clear in the 824 but I'd not looked at the straight Kowas. I'd never though about why it looked odd. I'd put it down to wacky designers.

It's clear in this photo

http://www.kowascope.com/frontend/proddetail.asp?pn=TSN-824M&co=10000390

I can see these being a design request to get the rail in place. It should be easy to spot this enclosure if it appears in other scopes.
 
EO shows that there is a 25X/32X for Vortex Viper scopes..99$.No specificatons listed. At the VTX web site they only show the 32X WA eyepiece for the Razor,..229$
 
Nice catch Mayomayo.

http://www.eagleoptics.com/spotting...er-25x-32x-eyepiece-for-viper-spotting-scopes

Screw on thread. I wonder if that's an M57 thread like the Zeiss/Baader?

It's nice to see they're offering a fixed EP

And both straight and angled in both sizes ... straight is a lot less popular at least with birders not too sure about hunters.

There's also a point and shoot adaptor that essentially gives all low zoom P&S cameras 37mm threads that matches up with their digital camera adaptors

So you need one of these $55 pieces

http://www.eagleoptics.com/digital-...t-for-razor-and-viper-digital-camera-adapters

and one of these $169 pieces

http://www.eagleoptics.com/digital-camera-adapters/vortex/vortex-viper-digital-camera-adapter

Not cheap for a couple of bits of metal!

Comes to think of it that P&S attachment might work with my Promaster scope. It comes with a similar camera adaptor though I've not measured the threads.
 
Last edited:
I am wondering about this scope's optical quality compared to the Celestron Regal F-ED...

Obviously a direct comparison would need to be done. But what are some thoughts in the mean time?

Any one plan on doing a comparison between the two?
 
I'm somewhat keen on the picatinny rail, but optics are more important to me. The funny thing is Zeiss actually make a nice red dot sight that doesn't fit on their scopes.

http://www.zeiss.com/c1256bcf0020be5f/Contents-Frame/ea0375ea5f622762852576bf00660b78

I considered gluing a rail on the lens hood as suggested by birdwatching.com, but it will likely interfere with my stay on case. I believe the zip tie arrangement can be made to work more easily.

I have a Swarovski with the little tube sight. I think it works better than hood notches, but it's impossible to use at night for objects at high altitude. Basically I align the eyepiece and hood to get the azimuth and pan up and down.

Anyway that's irrelevant to the thread... I like the ideas I see coming from Vortex. Another one is the CBX tactical tripod. They use a Manfrotto Rc322 grip action ball head to mount a binocular, but then they add a second quick release plate to the base of the grip to mount the scope. The mount bolts are already on the RC322 base but Vortex has the plate mounted on their rebrand item. Very slick in concept. In practice I'm afraid the scope mount is too dangly. I have a hard time getting Gitzo and Manfrotto heads to work well when I use them properly. I can't imagine they do more than barely function in this arrangement.

Concepts like this and the scope rail will get worked out over time and if they qualify they'll get adopted up. Early adopters sometimes get benefits sooner but we can also get stuck with gimmicks and bad ideas.
 
yes, I would LOVE to hear more feedback about these scopes. Specifically, the 80HD at $799 and how it compares to, say, the Theron Mag82 or the ZEN ED2.
 
David,

My apologies for not replying sooner.

I did not see this scope at the Midwest Birding Symposium. I did speak with Ben Lizdas from Eagle Optics but didn't go through their spotting scope selection. I did see several individuals outside comparing the Razor and various European models but I cannot say that I saw the Viper HD at the show. It may have very well been there and I just did not see it. There was so much to see and do that I really didn't have as much time as I would have liked to have checked out all of the optics on hand. I was particularly enamored by the Opticron ED scopes though.
 

Attachments

  • opti.JPG
    opti.JPG
    23.9 KB · Views: 268
  • eo.JPG
    eo.JPG
    24.7 KB · Views: 322
Last edited:
FrankD said:
David,

My apologies for not replying sooner.

I did not see this scope at the Midwest Birding Symposium. I did speak with Ben Lizdas from Eagle Optics but didn't go through their spotting scope selection. I did see several individuals outside comparing the Razor and various European models but I cannot say that I saw the Viper HD at the show. It may have very well been there and I just did not see it. There was so much to see and do that I really didn't have as much time as I would have liked to have checked out all of the optics on hand. I was particularly enamored by the Opticron ED scopes though.
Click to expand...

Frank:

Thanks for the pics. This must be quite an exhibition. Were you there for
more than one day? Lots of stuff to look at. I suppose you thought you died and had gone to heaven.

Jerry
 
Warning! This thread is more than 13 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

binomania
My review of Vortex Viper HD 20-60x85
Replies
0
Views
3K
binomania
binomania
C
Vortex Viper HD 20-60x85
Replies
2
Views
2K
LeeMon
L
G
Athlon Argos 20-60x85 HD Spotting Scope Reduced to only $299.99
Replies
0
Views
552
gr8fuldoug
G
T
  • Locked
Vortex Razor HD Gen 1 20-60x85 vs Athlon Ares G2 20-60x85
Replies
1
Views
2K
Troubador
Troubador
Will K
Swarovski and Vortex Scopes - A Brief Comparision
Replies
7
Views
5K
Will K
Will K

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 3 (members: 0, guests: 3)
Back
Top