bluedubius
Rick
I have a few shots in a gallery on Flickr using the Vortex Razor HD with the 20-60X zoom eyepiece and using a couple of DSLR's (mostly a nikon d40)and a point-and-shoot (mostly a panasonic fh-1). Thought I would post a link for anyone interested in this nice scope: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricksphotos0501/sets/72157626414908584/. I haven't used it extensively yet, and so these shots by no means illustrate the true potential of the scope. Will post more to this gallery as I get them. Will attach one photo of an Eastern Bluebird taken at a distance of around 60 feet with the fh-1. Post-processed in photoshop with unsharp mask, levels, and resized. The photo is uncropped.
Rick
Rick
. Star testing is something that most anyone can do to get some idea about a particular specimen of scope as it doesn't require any expensive equipment or an unusually difficult procedure. I totally agree with your point about sample variation. One good point about the Vortex is that they have a "no questions asked" lifetime warranty and so if you find you have a defective copy, you should be able to return it for a new one. Of course, you wouldn't want to have to exercise that option too many times. I would really like to see results of more copies of the Vortex being tested, and in particular would like to see how an average copy would hold up in comparison tests against an average copy of one of the "big name" brands, and not just someone alternately looking through the two scopes. That's been done, and the Vortex holds it own with the best in those types of tests. There just doesn't appear to be much interest in this scope or if so not many people are sharing their experiences. 
