Leupold vs Vortex Binoculars

[tony]

Leupold Alpine vs Vortex diamondback HD 10x42

Looking at both brands, figure my needs this power will work here in WV and Ohio.
Trying to keep the price around 3 bills but I could move up a little.
Found a few reviews on Youtube and online.
Wondering if anyone has any experience with either brand or something in this price range.

 

[jpmulk]

I would take a hard look at maven or athlon over leupold or vortex. Think you will find better quality for better price.

 

[neil.hansford]

There's a really good sale on Vortex at Sierra.com right now. Check it out.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[displacedtexan]

Leupold Alpine vs Vortex diamondback HD 10x42

Looking at both brands, figure my needs this power will work here in WV and Ohio.
Trying to keep the price around 3 bills but I could move up a little.
Found a few reviews on Youtube and online.
Wondering if anyone has any experience with either brand or something in this price range.

I've had both of those (pretty sure that was the Leo model), and I am much happier with the Vortex, plus they come with a not terrible harness.

Their warranty is also incredible. I had the original Diamondbacks, and one of the bird dogs chewed them up. They sent me back the HDs, and a dog toy.

 

[Kenflow]

I've had both of those (pretty sure that was the Leo model), and I am much happier with the Vortex, plus they come with a not terrible harness.

Their warranty is also incredible. I had the original Diamondbacks, and one of the bird dogs chewed them up. They sent me back the HDs, and a dog toy.

Leupold has the same warranty.

Lifetime Guarantee

We’ve been making world-class optics that bear our family name for over 100 years. We honor that legacy every day as we design, machine and assemble…

www.leupold.com

 

[displacedtexan]

Leupold has the same warranty.

Lifetime Guarantee

We’ve been making world-class optics that bear our family name for over 100 years. We honor that legacy every day as we design, machine and assemble…

www.leupold.com

They don't cover damage though.

 

[tony]

There's a really good sale on Vortex at Sierra.com right now. Check it out.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Those are great deals. I see the DB's are refurbed, those covered by vortex warranty?

 

[Kenflow]

They don't cover damage though.

Ah, I didn't see that part.

 

[Zman99]

The DB’s are pretty dang good for the money.

 

[displacedtexan]

Ah, I didn't see that part.

Vortex covering it is weird...

But very nice if dumb stuff happens.

 

[jnawalaniec]

Cameraland has some Athlon Cronus 8.5x42s doe $299, they are a huge upgrade over both, i’d jump on those if they still have them.

Give them a call and they’ll let you know the best for the price range.

 

[jpmulk]

I 2nd the cronus. Just picked up the 10x42 cronus. Havent had a chance to test them super hard yet. But have gotten them out a few times. Pretty pleased thus far.

 

[neil.hansford]

Those are great deals. I see the DB's are refurbed, those covered by vortex warranty?

Yeah, I believe the refurbished are still covered under their warranty.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[BWMhunts]

I rolled with diamondbacks for like 6 years before I upgraded. Absolutely loved that bino, glassed up tons of critters and filled plenty of tags with them hanging around my neck. To anyone ever considering a low cost option, in my opinion you cannot go wrong with diamondbacks.

 

[Mk7mmSTW]

Vortex covering it is weird...

But very nice if dumb stuff happens.

Don’t buy something strictly based on the fact they replace everything that breaks… at the Hunt Expo last week several of us went to the vortex booth to check out the new tripod/head set up. I asked for a 80mm spotter to check the flexibility in the tripod. As I try to adjust the razor spotter, I realize the power ring on the eye piece is broken and you can’t adjust it at all. The vortex rep just tells us “not to worry about that as they will replace it no questions asked if that ever happens”….
We lost it laughing and that is the exact reason I would never own a vortex optics. He didn’t even take the spotter down, just left it on display like they were proud to say, we did it!
Couldn’t give two poops about them replacing their rebranded foreign crap, your hunt would be DONE.
Buy based on reputation and what the outfitters/non sponsored big time guys use, not a Amazon return/replace policy.

 

[nobody]

I've personally had a love/hate relationship with Vortex over the years. For several years, I cursed their name and told everybody and anybody I knew that they should avoid their products and that you were only buying a warranty with a product thrown in. This opinion was formed based upon a couple of their cheap scopes breaking, largely because of my own negligence and lack of understanding on how to properly mount a scope.

In the past couple of years, I've come to a new conclusion about Vortex. I still don't use their rifle scopes on hunting rifles, but from what I've seen compared to the other companies that put out products in the same price range, they're all basically the same. Pick your poison when it comes to glass quality and which brand's sticker you want on the back of your truck.

The difference with Vortex is their warranty. Technically, Leupold has the same warranty. However, the difference between theirs and Vortex's is, in my experience (dealt with both companies' warranty) Vortex is much easier and much faster to deal with.

Obviously, in a perfect world, you'd never need to use a warranty. But let's be real, life happens. Sometimes the tripod tips over, sometimes your binos fall out of your open harness onto the ground when you're stalking and you forgot to close it during a stalk. It's nice knowing you can send your optics in and be taken care of without having to fork over a "rush fee" or dig out the receipt from when you got them for christmas 7 years ago or worry about a product registration. And it's even nicer knowing you don't have to send them off into a black hole for 3 months and be without your optics. All of those are examples from companies that say they have a lifetime warranty, but they're all hoops you'll have to jump through with other companies.

Everything breaks, everybody has accidents. It's nice knowing a company will stand behind you when it does happen. I've got glass from Swaro, Sig, Vortex, Leupold, Maven, and Athlon, so no I'm not a Vortex fanboy. But customer service matters, ALOT. The more time you spend outside, eventually something will break, and it's nice knowing Vortex will take care of you. Maven will too, but you're not looking at their stuff.

Back to your original question, and taking my own biased opinions into account, I would buy the Vortex over the Leupold binos, without question. The Diamondback's are pretty solid for $200, in all reality. And eventually they will break and fail and so will the Leupold's. The difference is Leupold will take 6-8 weeks to take care of you, Vortex will have you taken care of in 2 weeks. Same end result, but after dealing with both companies, I would rather deal with Vortex without question.

 

[BWMhunts]

I've personally had a love/hate relationship with Vortex over the years. For several years, I cursed their name and told everybody and anybody I knew that they should avoid their products and that you were only buying a warranty with a product thrown in. This opinion was formed based upon a couple of their cheap scopes breaking, largely because of my own negligence and lack of understanding on how to properly mount a scope.

In the past couple of years, I've come to a new conclusion about Vortex. I still don't use their rifle scopes on hunting rifles, but from what I've seen compared to the other companies that put out products in the same price range, they're all basically the same. Pick your poison when it comes to glass quality and which brand's sticker you want on the back of your truck.

The difference with Vortex is their warranty. Technically, Leupold has the same warranty. However, the difference between theirs and Vortex's is, in my experience (dealt with both companies' warranty) Vortex is much easier and much faster to deal with.

Obviously, in a perfect world, you'd never need to use a warranty. But let's be real, life happens. Sometimes the tripod tips over, sometimes your binos fall out of your open harness onto the ground when you're stalking and you forgot to close it during a stalk. It's nice knowing you can send your optics in and be taken care of without having to fork over a "rush fee" or dig out the receipt from when you got them for christmas 7 years ago or worry about a product registration. And it's even nicer knowing you don't have to send them off into a black hole for 3 months and be without your optics. All of those are examples from companies that say they have a lifetime warranty, but they're all hoops you'll have to jump through with other companies.

Everything breaks, everybody has accidents. It's nice knowing a company will stand behind you when it does happen. I've got glass from Swaro, Sig, Vortex, Leupold, Maven, and Athlon, so no I'm not a Vortex fanboy. But customer service matters, ALOT. The more time you spend outside, eventually something will break, and it's nice knowing Vortex will take care of you. Maven will too, but you're not looking at their stuff.

Back to your original question, and taking my own biased opinions into account, I would buy the Vortex over the Leupold binos, without question. The Diamondback's are pretty solid for $200, in all reality. And eventually they will break and fail and so will the Leupold's. The difference is Leupold will take 6-8 weeks to take care of you, Vortex will have you taken care of in 2 weeks. Same end result, but after dealing with both companies, I would rather deal with Vortex without question.

I couldn't agree more with this. Especially in regards to this price point- I feel the people that are bad mouthing vortex the most saying they'd rather die than own a vortex product, are most likely the folks with well over a thousand bucks into their binos.

 

[gcronin]

Leupold Alpine vs Vortex diamondback HD 10x42

Looking at both brands, figure my needs this power will work here in WV and Ohio.
Trying to keep the price around 3 bills but I could move up a little.
Found a few reviews on Youtube and online.
Wondering if anyone has any experience with either brand or something in this price range.

Thanks for checking out our binos! While I can't speak for other manufacturers, if you do have any specific questions on the Diamondback HDs, or any other optics in our lineup, don't hesitate to reach out!

 

[nobody]

I couldn't agree more with this. Especially in regards to this price point- I feel the people that are bad mouthing vortex the most saying they'd rather die than own a vortex product, are most likely the folks with well over a thousand bucks into their binos.

To be clear, I am NOT against owning expensive optics. My chest binos retail for $1700 (they happen to be the Razor UHD's from Vortex), my post has nothing to do with cost. It has everything with being objective and buying the best product with great support, not just buying based on the brand stamped on the side. I genuinely think Vortex builds some great stuff, but I don't buy Vortex just because I'm loyal to them and them only. My rangefinder is from Swaro (actually Kahles, but semantics...), I have scopes from Leupold, Sig, Athlon, and Nikon. I own the whole gamut. I just want people to understand that it is important to know how a company will treat you when you have an issue. Not if, but when. Because even Swarovski products break every now and then. I have some Vortex products because some of their optics happened to be exactly what I was looking for, and the warranty just sealed the deal.

 

[gcronin]

I've personally had a love/hate relationship with Vortex over the years. For several years, I cursed their name and told everybody and anybody I knew that they should avoid their products and that you were only buying a warranty with a product thrown in. This opinion was formed based upon a couple of their cheap scopes breaking, largely because of my own negligence and lack of understanding on how to properly mount a scope.

In the past couple of years, I've come to a new conclusion about Vortex. I still don't use their rifle scopes on hunting rifles, but from what I've seen compared to the other companies that put out products in the same price range, they're all basically the same. Pick your poison when it comes to glass quality and which brand's sticker you want on the back of your truck.

The difference with Vortex is their warranty. Technically, Leupold has the same warranty. However, the difference between theirs and Vortex's is, in my experience (dealt with both companies' warranty) Vortex is much easier and much faster to deal with.

Obviously, in a perfect world, you'd never need to use a warranty. But let's be real, life happens. Sometimes the tripod tips over, sometimes your binos fall out of your open harness onto the ground when you're stalking and you forgot to close it during a stalk. It's nice knowing you can send your optics in and be taken care of without having to fork over a "rush fee" or dig out the receipt from when you got them for christmas 7 years ago or worry about a product registration. And it's even nicer knowing you don't have to send them off into a black hole for 3 months and be without your optics. All of those are examples from companies that say they have a lifetime warranty, but they're all hoops you'll have to jump through with other companies.

Everything breaks, everybody has accidents. It's nice knowing a company will stand behind you when it does happen. I've got glass from Swaro, Sig, Vortex, Leupold, Maven, and Athlon, so no I'm not a Vortex fanboy. But customer service matters, ALOT. The more time you spend outside, eventually something will break, and it's nice knowing Vortex will take care of you. Maven will too, but you're not looking at their stuff.

Back to your original question, and taking my own biased opinions into account, I would buy the Vortex over the Leupold binos, without question. The Diamondback's are pretty solid for $200, in all reality. And eventually they will break and fail and so will the Leupold's. The difference is Leupold will take 6-8 weeks to take care of you, Vortex will have you taken care of in 2 weeks. Same end result, but after dealing with both companies, I would rather deal with Vortex without question.

We appreciate the kind words! As you noted, we hope that you never need to use our VIP Warranty, but we know our optics are being used in extreme conditions and accidents and want to make sure that we have our customer's backs. If you ever have any questions or need any help, please don't hesitate to reach out.