black crow
Well-known member
Well the first of the two new Vortex I've ordered showed up today and I had a chance to take them into the field for about two hours and then at home compare them to the Eagle Optics SRT 6x32 and a Vortex Raptor 8.5x32.
Overall my impression was not a good one. In fact quite the opposite. They did not pass muster IMO for some very critical reasons. Frankly I was expecting a lot more. Such is life.
Out of the box the Diamondback is a nice looking and nice sized bin. Close to the size of my Ranger but fatter and heavier. In the hand it felt good. It definitely feels sturdy and at that weight and size it was easy to hold steady. It comes with a comfortable fairly wide strap that carries it easily and it come with a zippered hard case that looks nice but nothing useful except for storage. There is a problem when you attach that strap however. They do not hang flat against your chest but at an angle so the aperture end digs into your chest at an angle. Not something that is comfortable even with a heavy sweatshirt on. The front aperture guards are flimsy compared to both my other bins and won't stay tightly in place around the tubes and don't look like they will stay on for long as they were not a good tight fit. The rain guard was good.
The first thing I noticed when looking through them was not the view but an annoying softness that seemed dramatic and abrupt at the edge of a very small sweet spot. With my Rangers one does not usually notice where the sweet spot ends as it drops off so gradually. Not the Diamondback. It was truly annoying and my eyes kept wandering over to it to check if something was wrong. I kept focusing unconsciously trying to correct this but it would not go away and maintain center focus. My Ranger and even the Raptor's are much smoother in transition and also both have a bigger sweet spot with the Ranger winning by a large margin. This in an of itself was a deal breaker for me. There was no comfort in the views.
Another thing was a distinct tunnel effect and a seemingly large amount of reflected light at the edges. As if not well baffled. (if that is the correct term) Everything felt compressed and I was distracted constantly from the view back to the bins themselves as if something were quite wrong with them. It was distinctly unpleasant.
Focusing was difficult and I never felt like I could get them fully focused. Everything seemed just ever so slightly blurred. Yet when I tried to pinpoint it I couldn't. The few times they seemed to be in focus they seemed almost crisp but they never got there. As for the depth of field they were not nearly as good as the Rangers and I was always fiddling with focus in the field.
The second major issue I had was how dark they were. Instead of saying they were not as bright as my other bins I feel it more appropriate to say they were not bright or they were dark. In the field it was harder to penetrate shadows then with all my other bins. It was quite dramatic and surprising in comparison to the other bins. Not good. At this point I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with these optics.
I did the cereal box test and the dark view was very apparent along with their lack of clarity and very small sweet spot. They did not compare well with either bin in any optical category or test. Very disappointing. Especially since the Raptors were much less expensive at retail price although to be fair they are porros.
The usual selling price for the Diamondback was $189 and for this closeout sale they were $99. At this lowered price I cannot say I thought they were a good value for the money. I much preferred the views in my Nikon Prostaffs at $119. They didn't really come close. And my Monarch 3s easily blew them away. I wouldn't even use these as my backup car bins.
I was not expecting to be so critical of these Vortex and had high hopes for them. Actually I'm a little shocked and wonder if I got a dud pair. At any rate they will be going back to where they came from for a refund.
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Overall my impression was not a good one. In fact quite the opposite. They did not pass muster IMO for some very critical reasons. Frankly I was expecting a lot more. Such is life.
Out of the box the Diamondback is a nice looking and nice sized bin. Close to the size of my Ranger but fatter and heavier. In the hand it felt good. It definitely feels sturdy and at that weight and size it was easy to hold steady. It comes with a comfortable fairly wide strap that carries it easily and it come with a zippered hard case that looks nice but nothing useful except for storage. There is a problem when you attach that strap however. They do not hang flat against your chest but at an angle so the aperture end digs into your chest at an angle. Not something that is comfortable even with a heavy sweatshirt on. The front aperture guards are flimsy compared to both my other bins and won't stay tightly in place around the tubes and don't look like they will stay on for long as they were not a good tight fit. The rain guard was good.
The first thing I noticed when looking through them was not the view but an annoying softness that seemed dramatic and abrupt at the edge of a very small sweet spot. With my Rangers one does not usually notice where the sweet spot ends as it drops off so gradually. Not the Diamondback. It was truly annoying and my eyes kept wandering over to it to check if something was wrong. I kept focusing unconsciously trying to correct this but it would not go away and maintain center focus. My Ranger and even the Raptor's are much smoother in transition and also both have a bigger sweet spot with the Ranger winning by a large margin. This in an of itself was a deal breaker for me. There was no comfort in the views.
Another thing was a distinct tunnel effect and a seemingly large amount of reflected light at the edges. As if not well baffled. (if that is the correct term) Everything felt compressed and I was distracted constantly from the view back to the bins themselves as if something were quite wrong with them. It was distinctly unpleasant.
Focusing was difficult and I never felt like I could get them fully focused. Everything seemed just ever so slightly blurred. Yet when I tried to pinpoint it I couldn't. The few times they seemed to be in focus they seemed almost crisp but they never got there. As for the depth of field they were not nearly as good as the Rangers and I was always fiddling with focus in the field.
The second major issue I had was how dark they were. Instead of saying they were not as bright as my other bins I feel it more appropriate to say they were not bright or they were dark. In the field it was harder to penetrate shadows then with all my other bins. It was quite dramatic and surprising in comparison to the other bins. Not good. At this point I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with these optics.
I did the cereal box test and the dark view was very apparent along with their lack of clarity and very small sweet spot. They did not compare well with either bin in any optical category or test. Very disappointing. Especially since the Raptors were much less expensive at retail price although to be fair they are porros.
The usual selling price for the Diamondback was $189 and for this closeout sale they were $99. At this lowered price I cannot say I thought they were a good value for the money. I much preferred the views in my Nikon Prostaffs at $119. They didn't really come close. And my Monarch 3s easily blew them away. I wouldn't even use these as my backup car bins.
I was not expecting to be so critical of these Vortex and had high hopes for them. Actually I'm a little shocked and wonder if I got a dud pair. At any rate they will be going back to where they came from for a refund.
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