My 12x SMR arrived last week. I'm still testing, but my first impression is that the glass is good, ranging through rolling hills is very good, ergos are sus (both handling and optical), ER is lacking for use with glasses, EPD is fussy and lacks graduation or lock, tripod mount location further undermines handling ergos.
I'm coming from the Geovid (HD-B 3000), but don't use the ballistic function as it's severely limited on this model. Workflow involves Geovids used to glass and range, range is manually entered into Kestrel 5700 4DOF. Geovid glass is great, ergos are great both handling and optical, but accurate ranging is hampered by reticle and tech. I shoot a lot of woodchucks. They can be difficult to accurately range in rolling hills with the Geovid HD-B 3000 at ranges over 350yrds, the range when bullet drop and wind drift start to be a critical factor.
Regarding the Vector-X I was excited to have a unit that could truly integrate atmospheric data, ballistic computation, highly accurate and reliable LRF and observation. A cursory look at the Vector-X HUD and menus is promising. Switching to AB is still a wild card and reading social media threads on their Quantum rollout has been less than inspiring. I want a solution that works in perpetuity without being connected to the internet or a smart phone. AB seems to be going the other way, but I won't claim to really understand where they're going and they won't say until SHOT.
My biggest concern with the Vector-X's are its optical ergos. I'm finding them to be very optically taxing to use and cause a headache almost immediately. Just now thinking about it, the only other time I've had this happen with binoculars was when they were out of collimation. Maybe that's at play here. I should go check.
I'm coming from the Geovid (HD-B 3000), but don't use the ballistic function as it's severely limited on this model. Workflow involves Geovids used to glass and range, range is manually entered into Kestrel 5700 4DOF. Geovid glass is great, ergos are great both handling and optical, but accurate ranging is hampered by reticle and tech. I shoot a lot of woodchucks. They can be difficult to accurately range in rolling hills with the Geovid HD-B 3000 at ranges over 350yrds, the range when bullet drop and wind drift start to be a critical factor.
Regarding the Vector-X I was excited to have a unit that could truly integrate atmospheric data, ballistic computation, highly accurate and reliable LRF and observation. A cursory look at the Vector-X HUD and menus is promising. Switching to AB is still a wild card and reading social media threads on their Quantum rollout has been less than inspiring. I want a solution that works in perpetuity without being connected to the internet or a smart phone. AB seems to be going the other way, but I won't claim to really understand where they're going and they won't say until SHOT.
My biggest concern with the Vector-X's are its optical ergos. I'm finding them to be very optically taxing to use and cause a headache almost immediately. Just now thinking about it, the only other time I've had this happen with binoculars was when they were out of collimation. Maybe that's at play here. I should go check.
