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Vortex Viper UHD beats Zeiss SF and Leica Noctivid! (4 Viewers)

"Let's face it. It is commercially impossible to give a unlimited lifetime warranty and survive on the long run and raving talks like we read here don't help.
Just my 2c"

I don't know Vortex does pretty good in the US. I believe they are one of the top selling binoculars and partly because of their warranty and product value for the money.
 
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Yup, some optic companies have great warranties and customer service here in the USA. Votex and Leupold are but just two of them. I know a fellow who had his Vortex Viper become separated from his ATV at 25 mpg on a very rocky trail. He told me he thought the view through them wasn’t quite the same as before the mishap. Vortex sent him a new pair, free of charge.

Two months ago my “original” Leupold Deltapoint which was mounted on the frame of my 1911 for the past 4+ years, taking recoil abuse a couple times a week with between 150/250 rounds being fired per week became erratic relative to sight adjustment. Leupold sent me an upgraded Deltapoint Pro at no charge. My brother sent Leupold a 30 year old scope that wasn’t focusing correctly and they sent him a new model scope, free of charge stating they couldn’t repair his vintage scope.

Both Vortex and Leupold have lifetime warranties. Leupold has been around for a loooong time, Vortex is a new kid on the block, so we’ll see how long they will last but they have been true to their word and that’s saying something in my book.
 
JoeJ

As a heads up "recoil "... " 150/250 rounds being fired" ...Look out for the discussion of these, it does not offend me in the slightest, but it may others. Nice to hear that about Leopold scopes.

Regarding Warranties from Vortex, I have older glass and some recently archived models from Nikon in perfect shape, but at present Nikon will not service them if there are any problems with them, no parts available they say.
If this can occur under Nikon a large company, it could happen to Vortex a much smaller company.

Remember nothing is forever, even Warranties.

Andy W.
 
JoeJ

As a heads up "recoil "... " 150/250 rounds being fired" ...Look out for the discussion of these, it does not offend me in the slightest, but it may others. Nice to hear that about Leopold scopes.

Regarding Warranties from Vortex, I have older glass and some recently archived models from Nikon in perfect shape, but at present Nikon will not service them if there are any problems with them, no parts available they say.
If this can occur under Nikon a large company, it could happen to Vortex a much smaller company.

Remember nothing is forever, even Warranties.

Andy W.
I think if Nikon runs out of parts they should still honor the warranty by replacing your binoculars with a new one and if that model is no longer made they should replace it with a newer model or give you a full refund on the purchase price of the binocular. Nikon replaced my defective EDG I with an EDG II when it was defective and many other people had their EDG I's replaced under warranty with an EDG II. I also heard of a customer who had an EDG II that Nikon couldn't fix for lack of parts so Nikon refunded them the full retail price for the EDG II which was over $2K and they took it and bought a Zeiss SF. Vortex doesn't repair so much in my experience they replace. So I would bet if you had an older Vortex that needed repair and they didn't make that binocular anymore they would replace it with a newer comparable and probably better binocular.
 
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In my experience Vortex does have some of the best Customer Service around. They are very personal and responsive when you need something or have problems. I must say I can't complain about Swarovski either though! I bought a Vortex Razor HD 10x42 and the diopter was funky and I returned it too the dealer and got a refund but I emailed Vortex and told them about it and they sent me a free pair of Vortex Razor HD 10x42 binoculars no charge. I wonder who else would do that! Not even Swarovski would!

Dennis,

Do I understand this correctly?
You bought a Vortex from a dealer, weren't happy about it, brought it back and received your money back.
After that, you emailed Vortex some Emo and received a brand new bin for free.
A: Is there no shame in you? and
B: How long do you think a company can last.

Jan
 
I'm sorry but you seem to have some difficulty with my posts.

Just to be clear.
Let me try again post 65 made crystal clear that I have no history of warranty with ANY OPTICS manufacture. Alpha or otherwise.

This is what I said and I stand by what I said 100%

"I think it's fair to say whatever the Vortex warranty, it's as good, or better than anything else on the market"


Who has a better warranty than this.

UNLIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY
FULLY TRANSFERABLE
NO RECEIPT NEEDED

Please enlighten me me. I must be missing something.
I usually am

Oh and I know the end caps only cost pennies and that they are cosmetic, I don't need you to tell me that. Nevertheless, I wanted them and Vortex provided them, quickly and free of charge.

I don't normally get involved in online spats, I don't have the time.
But There seems to be a real snobbery element from some members who look down on anything they perceive in not to be "Alpha"
I read the post from the guy who sent his new Swarovski bins back to Swarovski and what a disaster that was.
So although I have no personal history a "alpha brand warranty" I have read a post on these forums from someone who has and that was nothing short off appalling service. And this was a pair of brand new bins.

It is not fair to say so, because:
According to EU Law Lifetime warranty is seen as misleading marketing, is not allowed and has no legal meaning. AFAIK Britain is still a EU member.
No dealer will except a warranty claim without a receipt that is his.
Reality shows that importers (once stopped with that brand) refuse warranty claims and point at their successor who will reject the claim on the ground: "we did not sell you this bin so go to the one who did". I'm in this business for years and have seen many importers changes and cases like these.

What we can say is, that Vortex stands for their warranty and because of their excessive warranty policy sells very good but their warranty handling is in no way any better than Bushnell, Opticron, Kite and Bynolyt to name a few and single out Swarovski to prove your point(?).

Jan
 
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It is not fair to say so, because:
According to EU Law Lifetime warranty is seen as misleading marketing, is not allowed and has no legal meaning. AFAIK Britain is still a EU member.
No dealer will except a warranty claim without a receipt that is his.
Reality shows that importers (once stopped with that brand) refuse warranty claims and point at their successor who will reject the claim on the ground: "we did not sell you this bin so go to the one who did". I'm in this business for years and have seen many importers changes and cases like these.

What we can say is, that Vortex stands for their warranty and because of their excessive warranty policy sells very good but their warranty handling is in no way any better than Bushnell, Opticron, Kite and Bynolyt to name a few and single out Swarovski to prove your point(?).

Jan

What a load of rubbish.
 
Nice Review. Binomania liked it as well. Thanks for that ZZZZZZ. Surprised me the UHD is not any bigger than the SF or EL but has the advantage of the AK prism for higher transmission. If they thought the UHD was sharper on-axis than the SF that is SHARP! The SF is one of the sharpest binoculars I have ever seen on-axis.
 
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Dennis,

Do I understand this correctly?
You bought a Vortex from a dealer, weren't happy about it, brought it back and received your money back.
After that, you emailed Vortex some Emo and received a brand new bin for free.
A: Is there no shame in you? and
B: How long do you think a company can last.

Jan
The first Vortex Razor HD 10x42 was MIC and I told them I was disappointed that they moved their manufacturing to China and that had something to do with the quality of it. So they sent me a MIJ Vortex Razor HD 10x42 and it was perfect. That is how Vortex is. It is a small cost to pay to keep customers satisfied and it works for them because they do quite well. Because of their excellent customer service in that case I bought another Vortex Razor UHD 8x42. I might not have had they not responded in that fashion.
 
It would be nice see that pic of the four binoculars with all eye cups fully extended, to get the full view of the length and size of them, also for those who will not wear glasses and use them fully extended.
Everytime I look at the Vortex UHD 8X42, I see the Maven 9X45.

Andy W.
 
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...I also heard of a customer who had an EDG II that Nikon couldn't fix for lack of parts so Nikon refunded them the full retail price for the EDG II which was over $2K and they took it and bought a Zeiss SF....


We had that happen for two customers here at Optics4Birding. Both had EDG II 10x42s and Nikon gave them each a full refund. Both bought SF 10x42s.



Since then, Nikon has revised their warranty. It is no longer No Fault. Their announcement of a No Fault warranty is no longer on their website nor on their warranty cards. We pulled our Nikon counter mats that had their No Fault logo on them.
 
I agree with Steve C that the Razor UHD is a hunting binocular, and not really intended for birders. We hear from birders all the time that the Swarovski EL focuses too slowly. 900° of turn from close to infinity makes focusing down to 5' excruciating. The butterfly, dragonfly, or bird at your feet is gone before you can achieve focus. That is why Gerry Dobler didn't make the same mistake with the Victory SF (smart focus). The UHD takes nearly 1080° to accomplish the task. When you combine that with a 32+ oz. body, it's going to be a hard sell for birders. We brought this up in our meeting with Vortex at SHOT last week, and they agreed. As Dennis says, this is good for long range hunters, but I agree with Steve C that the vast majority of birders won't accept it.
 
We had that happen for two customers here at Optics4Birding. Both had EDG II 10x42s and Nikon gave them each a full refund. Both bought SF 10x42s.



Since then, Nikon has revised their warranty. It is no longer No Fault. Their announcement of a No Fault warranty is no longer on their website nor on their warranty cards. We pulled our Nikon counter mats that had their No Fault logo on them.
It was your post I read! Thanks, for jogging my memory. That was a good deal for those customers!
 
I agree with Steve C that the Razor UHD is a hunting binocular, and not really intended for birders. We hear from birders all the time that the Swarovski EL focuses too slowly. 900° of turn from close to infinity makes focusing down to 5' excruciating. The butterfly, dragonfly, or bird at your feet is gone before you can achieve focus. That is why Gerry Dobler didn't make the same mistake with the Victory SF (smart focus). The UHD takes nearly 1080° to accomplish the task. When you combine that with a 32+ oz. body, it's going to be a hard sell for birders. We brought this up in our meeting with Vortex at SHOT last week, and they agreed. As Dennis says, this is good for long range hunters, but I agree with Steve C that the vast majority of birders won't accept it.
In the Binomania review it says to go from minimum focus to long distance it takes 2 1/2 turns anti-clockwise but at 3 meters it only takes 1 turn of the knob to infinity. The focus doesn't bother me since I am used to an EL and I generally don't look at dragonflies and birds at my feet. The 32 oz. doesn't bother me either if that is what it takes to get this kind of brightness and on-axis resolution with the AK prism requiring a bigger binocular. This thing is SHARP and BRIGHT on-axis. After all some people are willing to carry an 8x56 to get better on-axis resolution and less aberration's. I like my 8x56 Zeiss Conquest HD for that reason. I like the Razor UHD 8x42 so much I bought a Razor UHD 18x56 for long range viewing. I am thinking it could replace a spotter in a lot of situations. I will review it when I get it. More to come.
 
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I like the Razor UHD 8x42 so much I bought a Razor UHD 18x56 for long range viewing. I am thinking it could replace a spotter in a lot of situations. I will review it when I get it. More to come.

It's a good service your doing Dennis, providing first hand experience of these new bins - much appreciated!

I use a 15x56 as a spotter and it works great. I imagine the Razor UHD 18x56 will also do a fine job. Looking forward to your review.
 
It's a good service your doing Dennis, providing first hand experience of these new bins - much appreciated!

I use a 15x56 as a spotter and it works great. I imagine the Razor UHD 18x56 will also do a fine job. Looking forward to your review.
That is what I like to do. Try new binoculars. I find it interesting when a new binocular comes on the market to test it out.
 
The vast majority of hunters won't accept a $1500 Vortex either.
Even if three different reviews say the Razor UHD is as good or better than the EL, SF and Noctivid which are 2x the price. You don't think some people would give them a try?

https://redirect.viglink.com/?forma...ttps://www.audubon.org/news/category-top-line
https://redirect.viglink.com/?forma...www.bestbinocularsreviews.co...Review-255.htm
https://redirect.viglink.com/?forma...tps://www.binomania.it/vortex-razor-uhd-8x42/
 
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