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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Vulture HD 8x56 - very happy with it (1 Viewer)

M

MagpieCorvidae

Well-known member
After multiple in-store comparisons I ended up with the Vortex Vulture HD 8x56.

In direct comparison with the Viper HD I did not notice any appreciable difference in brightness or sharpness under bright conditions and so I would expect the Vulture to have an edge in low light.

I also looked at Nikon Monarch 7s, Celestron Granite ED, Vortex Razor, and Zeiss Conquest. I even brought a resolution chart with me in the store to compare sharpness. The Vulture is bright on two fronts namely the large objective and the use of HD glass as such would be very hard to beat at this price point. Also the chromatic aberation is a little lower in the center than my Celestron 9x63 porros, but they are about the same towards the outer field.

If you have any specific questions let me know.
 
woo ! After browsing these forums a bit, it seems I have just joined a minority of two; the only other person here that doesn't mind using 8x56s is henry_link.
 
I got a chance to try one of these recently and I was impressed. Really bright and sharp. I also liked the Diamondback and the Raptor 6.5x32 (which I have since bought). However, I was very disappointed with the Viper HD. It was ok, but I didn't think it had anything special about it.
 
Petrus82 said:
I got a chance to try one of these recently and I was impressed. Really bright and sharp. I also liked the Diamondback and the Raptor 6.5x32 (which I have since bought). However, I was very disappointed with the Viper HD. It was ok, but I didn't think it had anything special about it.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think the Vulture is a hidden gem in the Vortex line. Definately a step up from Diamondbacks and little or nothing to envy from Viper or Raptor lines. My eyes and wallet are happy at $389 :)
 
MagpieCorvidae said:
Yes, I think the Vulture is a hidden gem in the Vortex line. Definately a step up from Diamondbacks and little or nothing to envy from Viper or Raptor lines. My eyes and wallet are happy at $389 :)
Click to expand...

I think the Raptor 6.5 x 32 is a gem of a binocular. The one I got was pin sharp, bright and had a really accentuated 3D effect. Wide FOV, waterproof and fogproof. Close focus not great, but you can't have everything.

I really loved the diamondback 8x42. In fact, I will buy it one day. I thought for £160 it's a real bargain. Does anyone know which reflective coatings Vortex use? I know the Viper and Razor are dielectric, but what about the Diamondback?
 
Last edited:
I tried the 8x56 at my local dealer a couple of weeks ago, nice optics but the focus wheel was dragging the diopter around with it so there may be some qc issues.
 
I was at the store again today and thought to do one more round of comparisons for safe measure.

The best I can summarize the Vulture is that it's a mix of Diamondback and Viper HD.
You get a Viper HD sweet spot in the middle of superb clarity and a diamondback-like chromatic aberration thingy going on in the outer field (against extremely high contrast details, such as power lines against a bright sky).
 
MagpieCorvidae said:
I was at the store again today and thought to do one more round of comparisons for safe measure.

The best I can summarize the Vulture is that it's a mix of Diamondback and Viper HD.
You get a Viper HD sweet spot in the middle of superb clarity and a diamondback-like chromatic aberration thingy going on in the outer field (against extremely high contrast details, such as power lines against a bright sky).
Click to expand...

If the soft edges on it are like the 8x42 Diamondbacks it is probably caused by pincushion distortion. You should be able to dial edges like this into sharpness with your focus wheel although your sweet spot will lose it's sharpness when you do it.

Bob
 
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