15x56 Vulture vs Kaibab vs Diamondback

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Anyone know which of these is better quality glass? Would like a "starter" pair of 15's. My understanding is the Kaibabs were in a higher price class, but since they're discontinued I'm not sure if the outdated but higher price glass is better/worse/equal to the current line of Diamondback HD glass.

Just noticed the Vulture's are another discontinued 15x56 vortex model. Where does it fit?

 

[ORhunter74]

Not that pricing means everything, but. The Vultures retail for around $500. The Kaibabs for around $1100 +/-and the Diamondbacks for around $300 +/-. I’ve only ever looked through the Vultures. My guess would be the Kaibabs would be far better than both and the Diamondback’s wouldn’t be too much worse than the Vultures. The Vultures were ok but not great. Definitely going to need a good tripod for any of them.

 

[FSB12B]

Kaibab’s are pretty good for the money.
Stay away from the DB.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Gotcha, yeah I think at the used Kaibab price point I would opt for a different brand anyway. I confused them with the Vulture model. That's the comparison I was looking for, Vultures vs Diamondback HD.

 

[Schmo]

Kaibab will be better optical performance than the others.

 

[nobody]

Kaibab is better than both, but the Diamondback and Vulture are interchangeable to my eyes optically. I like the build quality on the vulture better than the diamondback, but optically there’s not any difference.

I run the 10x50 Razor UHD’s as my chest binos, but also have a pair of 15x diamondback’s. They’re optically far inferior to the UHD’s, but I have no problem glassing with them. My biggest issue is finding a use case where I actually end up carrying them. But when I do, I don’t feel they’re lacking.

 

[jrfred]

I've owned the Vulture HD 15x56 for several years so I can only speak to these, I think I recall paying ~$600 for them. While I really like glassing with them, the frustrating thing is the diopter adjustment is non-locking, and located on the focus knob, not below the right eye cup, and the issue is, when focusing, the friction is so light on the diopter knob that the focus knob tends to also turn the diopter knob out of focus. Just got done with a WY antelope hunt and I noticed I was constantly re-adjusting the diopter - irritating. I think I'm going to contact Vortex about this. Having said this I think a locking diopter is the way to go so maybe you can find some used Kaibabs. Interestingly although you cannot navigate or search the Vulture's on the Vortex website, they do indicate limited distribution at this link so maybe you can find some distributor across the country that still has a pair on the shelf for a deal....