All,
A brief backstory: As some of you may know I recently underwent some medical hardships and sold off the majority of my higher priced optics, e.g. a 7x42 Zeiss Victory and 8.5x44 Kowa Genesis. I was pretty down about this but still had a few usable optics on hand so it wasn't the worst thing to happen. Well, my significant other has known I was interested in the Vortex Razor HD for some time and after a post by FrankD listing a trade-in model for $699 showed up here, she got with my family and I'm now the owner of the 8x42 Razor HD (current, single bridge edition). I've only had this three days and haven't had too much time behind the glass yet, but I thought I'd given some informal thoughts about it.
Central Sharpness - always the key thing for any pair of binoculars, I think, and the Razor impresses quite well. I'd put it around the level of the Swaro SLC-HD and Kowa Genesis, i.e. very high.
Chromatic Aberration - another big issue for my personal quirks. Overall I'd say this is exceptional - I can personally only induce it readily in the last 5% of the field. I'd say this is just under the performance of the FL, but better than the Swarovisions and Ultravid HDs/Trinovids I've tried.
Brightness/Color - Fantastically bright binoculars; I actually contacted EO (who then reached out elsewhere) and got a peak transmission of 94%. While I don't necessarily believe this value to be accurate, I would say they were as bright as the Swarovisions and noticeably brighter than the Trinovids. Allbinos reports that the Vortex Viper HD has a 89% transmission peak and I'd say these are probably in that 90-93% range easily. Color fidelity is very good, it appears similar to the Kowa Genesis in that respect. No overly warm or cool tones detected, but maybe a slight warm bias? Again, it would be very, very slight.
Edge Performance - A truly unimportant feature for me, but this has a very generous sweetspot. Not on the level of field flattened optics but not too far off. Certainly better than the Victory T*FL, but below the Swarovision. CA is most noticeable in the last 5% or so, as mentioned above. I don't notice any major darkening at the edge.
Subjective Viewing - Again, I've not had these for too long, but these are simply amazing binoculars, especially when considering non-optical qualities (e.g. weight, warranty, mechanical 'feel'). A slightly wider field of view (~410 similar to the HT/Meostar) would've been nice, but I think less of an edge effect is present in these. Overall they have a very "what binocular" feel to them - you are simply transported 8x closer. This is what I find most important for any binocular I've owned (the Kowas were very nearly there but far too heavy). Anyone looking for superb optics in a compact but sound package really needs to take a long hard look at these binoculars. I'd compared them in stores to the Conquest HD and Trinovid (non-HD) models and always thought they were noticeably superior.
I'll update this as I get more field time following waterfowl surveys and BBS work (and maybe a little birding for fun as well...). Let me know if you have any questions or want me to hit on any particular point.
Justin
A brief backstory: As some of you may know I recently underwent some medical hardships and sold off the majority of my higher priced optics, e.g. a 7x42 Zeiss Victory and 8.5x44 Kowa Genesis. I was pretty down about this but still had a few usable optics on hand so it wasn't the worst thing to happen. Well, my significant other has known I was interested in the Vortex Razor HD for some time and after a post by FrankD listing a trade-in model for $699 showed up here, she got with my family and I'm now the owner of the 8x42 Razor HD (current, single bridge edition). I've only had this three days and haven't had too much time behind the glass yet, but I thought I'd given some informal thoughts about it.
Central Sharpness - always the key thing for any pair of binoculars, I think, and the Razor impresses quite well. I'd put it around the level of the Swaro SLC-HD and Kowa Genesis, i.e. very high.
Chromatic Aberration - another big issue for my personal quirks. Overall I'd say this is exceptional - I can personally only induce it readily in the last 5% of the field. I'd say this is just under the performance of the FL, but better than the Swarovisions and Ultravid HDs/Trinovids I've tried.
Brightness/Color - Fantastically bright binoculars; I actually contacted EO (who then reached out elsewhere) and got a peak transmission of 94%. While I don't necessarily believe this value to be accurate, I would say they were as bright as the Swarovisions and noticeably brighter than the Trinovids. Allbinos reports that the Vortex Viper HD has a 89% transmission peak and I'd say these are probably in that 90-93% range easily. Color fidelity is very good, it appears similar to the Kowa Genesis in that respect. No overly warm or cool tones detected, but maybe a slight warm bias? Again, it would be very, very slight.
Edge Performance - A truly unimportant feature for me, but this has a very generous sweetspot. Not on the level of field flattened optics but not too far off. Certainly better than the Victory T*FL, but below the Swarovision. CA is most noticeable in the last 5% or so, as mentioned above. I don't notice any major darkening at the edge.
Subjective Viewing - Again, I've not had these for too long, but these are simply amazing binoculars, especially when considering non-optical qualities (e.g. weight, warranty, mechanical 'feel'). A slightly wider field of view (~410 similar to the HT/Meostar) would've been nice, but I think less of an edge effect is present in these. Overall they have a very "what binocular" feel to them - you are simply transported 8x closer. This is what I find most important for any binocular I've owned (the Kowas were very nearly there but far too heavy). Anyone looking for superb optics in a compact but sound package really needs to take a long hard look at these binoculars. I'd compared them in stores to the Conquest HD and Trinovid (non-HD) models and always thought they were noticeably superior.
I'll update this as I get more field time following waterfowl surveys and BBS work (and maybe a little birding for fun as well...). Let me know if you have any questions or want me to hit on any particular point.
Justin