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ALL made in China?? (1 Viewer)

It all depends on how much control Vortex has over production. Toyota and Nissan have massive car plants here in the UK, but that doesn't mean they just leave us Brits to build em how we like. There is a tight controlling hand there. If Vortex, Zeiss, etc are happy to throw their brand names into faraway un-monitored plants, then they can hardly weep when sales drop.
 
Soooo...
I guess ALL of Vortex's binoculars are now made in China. I can't find anything that now says otherwise.

Does this now mean that at approx $1180 the Vortex Razor HD 8X42 is NOW the most expensive MIC 8X42 binocular?

How many of you are willing to recommend Vipers and Razors now and how many would be willing to pay that? Do you think it MATTERS? $500 is really the limit at what I would be willing to pay for a MIC binocular. I can't IMAGINE laying out over a thousand on a MIC binocular. I can't imagine it.


I do not think (political considerations aside) it matters where a binocular is made. What matters is who is having it made. What matters if if who is having it made knows what they are doing and know what they want. What matters is if they can talk to the engineers and properly evaluate prototypes and keep sending them back until they get what they need.

We have all seen the cheap Chinese junk comments. My take is coming around to the view that the Chinese are perfectly capable of producing whatever quality level they are getting paid for. I think a lot of the junk blamed on Chinese origin is directly attributable to junk is what the seller wants. For example, agricultural machinery parts. Used to be you could buy good replacement parts. Not so much nowadays. The new business model seems to be evolving to sell as much low cost, high margin crap as they can.

I once had a pretty high up in the chain Swarovski man tell me that he was pretty certain the Chinese could clone the SV well enough even Swaro would have difficulty telling them apart. So I think it gets down to how well Vortex did the design and spec and QC work and how well the OEM keeps their end of the bargain.
 
....

I once had a pretty high up in the chain Swarovski man tell me that he was pretty certain the Chinese could clone the SV well enough even Swaro would have difficulty telling them apart. So I think it gets down to how well Vortex did the design and spec and QC work and how well the OEM keeps their end of the bargain.

It shouldn't be that difficult... the ones with the smooth and uniform focusers would be Chinese 3:)

CG
 
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I guess ALL of Vortex's binoculars are now made in China. I can't find anything that now says otherwise.

I just bought a new 10x42 Razor HD, at a discount, and both the box and the binos are marked "Made in Japan". Do you suppose I can believe it? Very nice binos, nonetheless.

Cheers,

John
 
it is difficult to know where anything is actually made these days but when it comes to most chinese products I will stick with the mantra"coming to a landfill near you" until I learn more.
 
Very bad for Vortex to make their vipers at China now, if they have to, then their prices need to be lower to compete with other made in japan $600 range, like Tract optics.
 
Very bad for Vortex to make their vipers at China now, if they have to, then their prices need to be lower to compete with other made in japan $600 range, like Tract optics.

Kind of my point..
Would y'all rather have a $1000 MIC Vortex Razor HD OR a Maven B1/B2, Tract Toric, Conquest HD, Nikon Monarch HG, Leica Trinovid HD? All for the same or LESS money....

Would be an easy answer for me.
 
I doubt the build quality of most things coming out of China is the fault of the Chinese Company. It's probably the fault of the company submitting specifications that are on the sub-standard side of things.

When a contract is signed calling for the very best with tight tolerances that's what is made and shipped out - upon arrival a percentage of the product is inspected by the Companies QC department and it either goes on the shelf or shipped back to the manufacturer - Not many Chinese Companies would stay in business doing shabby business.

Don't expect top of the line products made in China to be less expensive than Japanese or German, as they probably won't but the Company probably will see a slightly better profit margin.

There is a lot of junk coming out of China but that junk had junk specifications to begin with and the Company selling that junk probably will have poor customer service.|;|
 
I doubt the build quality of most things coming out of China is the fault of the Chinese Company. It's probably the fault of the company submitting specifications that are on the sub-standard side of things.

When a contract is signed calling for the very best with tight tolerances that's what is made and shipped out - upon arrival a percentage of the product is inspected by the Companies QC department and it either goes on the shelf or shipped back to the manufacturer - Not many Chinese Companies would stay in business doing shabby business.

Don't expect top of the line products made in China to be less expensive than Japanese or German, as they probably won't but the Company probably will see a slightly better profit margin.

There is a lot of junk coming out of China but that junk had junk specifications to begin with and the Company selling that junk probably will have poor customer service.|;|

Joe

I am sure you are right to the extent that the contracting company needs to specify the level of quality that they need and needs the agreement of the Chinese sub-contractor, AND needs to verify that this level of quality is what is being shipped (rather than leaving it to the customer to find out).

Any Western brand selling crap is responsible for that crap arriving on the market and they need to look at their own procedures or that of their Chinese sub-contractor or both, and rectify the problems. It is naive and nationalistic to simply blame the Chinese.

But making binos is labour intensive and not automated. At the moment labour in China is cheaper than in Western countries so, yes, one would expect any binos made in China to cost less at the factory gate than ones made in Western countries to the same quality level.

Lee
 
I doubt the build quality of most things coming out of China is the fault of the Chinese Company. It's probably the fault of the company submitting specifications that are on the sub-standard side of things...

If that's true, and the problem isn't a matter of manufacturing competence, it seems that either (a) today's (Chinese) manufacturers are more capable of producing at low standards (that have, ostensibly, long been specced) than their Japanese predecessors/competitors who more often apparently accidentally or intentionally have exceeded the quality specified, or (b) many brands have simultaneously decided to request bins be made with overall much higher quality optics than in the past but with much lower quality drive systems and housings.

I've handled a lot of cheap and not so cheap bins made in Japan and made in China, past and present. Based on that experience, I've come to believe (c) that Chinese manufacturers don't know how to reliably make inexpensive reliable binocular focus drive systems (i.e. that don't slip, lose left-right synchrony, or have slop), and that they also don't know how to make plastic hard parts and artificial rubber armoring that doesn't crumble, crack, wear poorly. Perhaps I'm wrong and the answer is not "c" but instead "a" or "b" above. Regardless, although I'm almost forced by what is available in today's market to recommend them to others seeking budget bins, I no longer look to acquire Chinese made bins for myself because I've lost trust in their mechanical integrity. I wouldn't call myself unsalvageablely prejudiced yet (the way I am about long-term reliability of cars designed and made by the major American brands; a prejudice that my mechanic, who works mainly on American cars, says is still very much warranted despite all the press to the contrary), but I'm headed that way. Especially since other products, like Chinese-made cell phone charging cords seem to break after a bit of use/abuse unlike those I have from Japan and Korea. Maybe I'll be won back by Nikon's Chinese-made bins or the like, if they turn out to be of the quality I've come to expect from their Japanese or Thai-made products, though I must say that I've not been impressed with the mechanically delicate nature of the Nikon 50 ED scope, which is made in China.

--AP
 
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There are quality things made in China, for example Apple has over 700,000 employees in the
Chinese factories turning out quality producsts. If they were not, they would not be the massive
company they are today. They have high quality control, and have direct control of operations and
all of the rest.

In optics companies it is much the same. The large companies have the same QC, company owned
factories, with nice results. Some names that come to the top are Nikon, Canon, and others that I
could include.

Otherwise, some sellers contract with Chinese companies, and it is different there. You pay for what
you get. Some China products are made "just good enough". If you have ever purchased a cheap
astro big binocular, you will know what I mean.

The story is the same, if made in Japan, you can depend on a good level of quality, all the way to
the very best.

China made optics, at least binoculars start at the bottom, and go to around the $500. USD level.

There are not any that sell any higher than that, that I am aware of.

Jerry
 
China made optics, at least binoculars start at the bottom, and go to around the $500. USD level.

There are not any that sell any higher than that, that I am aware of.

Jerry

PRETTY sure the Vortex Razor HD...~$1000 8X42 are now made in China.
 
PRETTY sure the Vortex Razor HD...~$1000 8X42 are now made in China.

The best model they sell, Razor has been made in Japan, along with the Viper.

If they are now made in China, that is a very bad thing. :eek!:

For those watching, Vortex is mostly a hunting optics seller, and so
that is where they put their efforts.

Jerry
 
The best model they sell, Razor has been made in Japan, along with the Viper.

If they are now made in China, that is a very bad thing. :eek!:
...........
Jerry

Straight out of the Cabela's display case yesterday ..... a Razor 12X50

Made in China

Made in China.jpg

I looked it over briefly and did not find any quality issues. It may be a bad thing perception wise, but if the proper controls are in place, not in practice.

On Edit: By "perception", I mean how a buyer may "perceive" that the quality may be less now that the Razor is made in China. I did not mean bad perception as related to optical performance.
 
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That's proof enough for me Bruce! ;)

Yeah I'm sure they would be just fine...I guess. Still it kinda makes me sick seeing that on Vortex's top of the line binocular.
 
You're probably typing on a Chinese-made keyboard attached to a Chinese-made motherboard while hugging your Chinese-made phone.
 
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You're probably typing on a Chinese-made keyboard attached to a Chinese-made motherboard while hugging your Chinese-made phone.


Which has nothing to do with Vortex's new Chinese made binocs and scopes. Over the long run, I don't trust Chinese optics. Sub-par build quality will rear it's ugly head eventually. There's always something better than Vortex for the same or less money anyway.
 
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