csrichardson97
FNG
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2023
- Messages
- 22
Hello All,
Wanted to do a writeup on my thoughts regarding the Vortex Diamondback HD vs the Vortex Razor HD, both in 10x42.
Hope this doesn't seem long winded, just wanted to provide a detailed account of what I noticed. I thoroughly enjoy reading detailed reviews, hope this is helpful to someone who may be in a similar situation.
I did lots, and lots, and lots of research prior to pulling the trigger on the Razor HD binos. Lots of threads on here comparing the DB vs Viper, and Viper vs Razor. Or even going higher, Razor vs UHD, or Razor vs Swaro… etc…
Through all the scrolling, I never found a comparison on the Diamondbacks vs the Razor’s. I found this could be useful, for someone looking to jump from entry level binos, skip the mid-level, and enter what could be considered the upper tier of the vortex product family.
Before you guys start bashing Vortex, keep in mind, this is a comparison between Vortex products, and not an opinion on what Binos are market best. I made the mistake of looking through the Swaro NL Pure while window shopping… Nuff said.
To provide some background, I am a “rookie” western hunter. Moved out to CO early 2023, came from the Midwest (KS/IN).
I bought the Vortex Diamondback HD 10x42 for ~$130 brand new (on sale) from Bass Pro in 2023. Used them this entire 1.5 years being in CO, had no complaints.
I picked up the Razor HD 10x42 refurbished for $550+tax. Philippines model. (For the original price point of $1000 I might look at other binos… more on this later). I have had them for a couple weeks now, enough time to feel confident writing my notes here in this review.
To kick things off, the adage of “Diminishing returns” is true. Found lots of folks mentioning this across bino comparisons. The Razors at the $1000 price point are NOT 4X better than the Diamondbacks at the $250 price point. The first time I put my eyes behind both sets of glass, was midday, on my apartment balcony, sun shining down. Almost no significant difference between the two (edge to edge clarify on the razors only thing worth noting.) If you have done any research on binos, this shouldn’t be too surprising, this isn’t the circumstances you bought the better glass for anyway. My heart sunk; Did I just spend $600 on some glass that is barely better than my Diamondbacks? I continued glassing through my neighborhood from the balcony (on tripod) well into the evening, well past “legal light.” Even still, the low light qualities I expected to shine from the Razors were underwhelming to say the least, maybe 5-10% better light transmission. There is a dog park I can see from where we live, I was able to pick out the same details from different dogs with both the Diamondbacks and the Razors well past sunset. Nothing in the Razors I couldn’t see with the Diamondbacks (mind you I am looking through the center of the glass, not the edges). I gave up for the evening and decided to take some more notes over my next couple trips out in the mountains.
Went out to scout my deer unit for the year, set up my tripod and started taking some serious looks with both DB’s and Razors. THIS is where the differences really started to shine. The edge-to-edge clarity is much more noticeable out in the mountains. There’s much more of a blur on the outer 20% of the diamondbacks and there is with the razors. I can place a high contrast object in the last 99% of the viewing window on the razors, and while not crystal clear, the image is impressively clear. This alone is a huge plus, I can set my binos on the tripod, crank them down tight, and not have to move what I am looking at to the center of the viewing window, like I would have to do with the DB’s.
The image in the razors is a more crisp and well defined at distance. Objects at a distance, appear to look more three-dimensional through the razors than they do with the diamondbacks, it’s slight but noticeable. The Diamondbacks have a little bit more of a grayscale looked to them, whereas the razors have a little bit more color pop in the image, again slight, but noticeable. I found the focus wheel to be wider and more forgiving on the Razor’s. At times I found myself “breathing” on the DB focus wheel and fighting to get it just right. Nothing unmanageable but made life easier when trying to get a quick well-defined look at something.
To be painfully honest, there have been a couple areas, that the Diamondbacks have done better at than the Razors. I found Chromatic Aberration (CA) management better on the Diamondbacks. This is not to say the Razors have it bad, but my eyes personally never picked up much CA with the Diamondbacks, but they do here and there with the Razors. My eye and head placement are more forgiving with the DB’s than the Razor’s, no significant complaint here, it is something I am naturally getting used to. Glare is another thing. On the porch, the Razors would catch a crescent moon haze that I could not duplicate with the DB’s. Very specific viewing angle towards the sun, I haven’t had this issue in the field, but in an urban environment it pops up now and again.
(I called Vortex about the glare, they said this is not something they hear about regularly, but if I end up thinking the problem is the binos then I can send them back and they will check them out.) (ALSO, shoutout to Vortex customer support, awesome team, very helpful with all the questions I had) I did buy a 2nd pair of Razors to do a side-by-side comparison on this glare topic. They arrived broken in box, diopter wheel not attached, would not lock or adjust diopter. They are currently back with Vortex getting repaired through the warranty.
I have two concluding thoughts, which I know may be controversial, and may also seem contradictory.
My recommendation for someone who was in my shoes; a rookie hunter, trying to maximize cash allocation, would want to buy low end binos, and a somewhat decent spotting scope. I had the DB 10x42’s and the Viper 15-45x65 Spotter prior to getting the Razors. I sold the spotting scope to buy the better binos. If you are limited in cash, get the combo, I have missed having a spotter in several situations thus far. The amount of game I have found in CO leaves me no doubt with the capabilities of the DB’s, great starter binos at a good price point. I think they punch above their price.
My other recommendation is to get the Razors! (told you I would contradict myself) If you can get these for sub $700, they are a great pair of binos, I am happy with my purchase and look forward to many hours behind the glass over these upcoming months. The lack of a spotting scope doesn’t worry me much, I will be getting another (nicer) spotter here over the coming months, so my time without will be limited. I look forward to having good binos AND a good spotter. Now that I have tested the waters with Western hunting, it is worth the investment in the long haul to get better optics. The quality differences give the Razor a solid upper hand over the DB's, just don't expect to be blown away. Personally, I believe its worth the extra cash.
Side story: I glassed up a herd of elk 5 miles away on Sep. 1st and I was able to make out individual elk with both the DB’s and Razor’s. Far enough away that the glass quality couldn’t be a major factor in terms of specific animal detail. I share this to say that time in the field is far more beneficial than expensive gear. Cheaper gear will still get the job done.
Wanted to do a writeup on my thoughts regarding the Vortex Diamondback HD vs the Vortex Razor HD, both in 10x42.
Hope this doesn't seem long winded, just wanted to provide a detailed account of what I noticed. I thoroughly enjoy reading detailed reviews, hope this is helpful to someone who may be in a similar situation.
I did lots, and lots, and lots of research prior to pulling the trigger on the Razor HD binos. Lots of threads on here comparing the DB vs Viper, and Viper vs Razor. Or even going higher, Razor vs UHD, or Razor vs Swaro… etc…
Through all the scrolling, I never found a comparison on the Diamondbacks vs the Razor’s. I found this could be useful, for someone looking to jump from entry level binos, skip the mid-level, and enter what could be considered the upper tier of the vortex product family.
Before you guys start bashing Vortex, keep in mind, this is a comparison between Vortex products, and not an opinion on what Binos are market best. I made the mistake of looking through the Swaro NL Pure while window shopping… Nuff said.
To provide some background, I am a “rookie” western hunter. Moved out to CO early 2023, came from the Midwest (KS/IN).
I bought the Vortex Diamondback HD 10x42 for ~$130 brand new (on sale) from Bass Pro in 2023. Used them this entire 1.5 years being in CO, had no complaints.
I picked up the Razor HD 10x42 refurbished for $550+tax. Philippines model. (For the original price point of $1000 I might look at other binos… more on this later). I have had them for a couple weeks now, enough time to feel confident writing my notes here in this review.
To kick things off, the adage of “Diminishing returns” is true. Found lots of folks mentioning this across bino comparisons. The Razors at the $1000 price point are NOT 4X better than the Diamondbacks at the $250 price point. The first time I put my eyes behind both sets of glass, was midday, on my apartment balcony, sun shining down. Almost no significant difference between the two (edge to edge clarify on the razors only thing worth noting.) If you have done any research on binos, this shouldn’t be too surprising, this isn’t the circumstances you bought the better glass for anyway. My heart sunk; Did I just spend $600 on some glass that is barely better than my Diamondbacks? I continued glassing through my neighborhood from the balcony (on tripod) well into the evening, well past “legal light.” Even still, the low light qualities I expected to shine from the Razors were underwhelming to say the least, maybe 5-10% better light transmission. There is a dog park I can see from where we live, I was able to pick out the same details from different dogs with both the Diamondbacks and the Razors well past sunset. Nothing in the Razors I couldn’t see with the Diamondbacks (mind you I am looking through the center of the glass, not the edges). I gave up for the evening and decided to take some more notes over my next couple trips out in the mountains.
Went out to scout my deer unit for the year, set up my tripod and started taking some serious looks with both DB’s and Razors. THIS is where the differences really started to shine. The edge-to-edge clarity is much more noticeable out in the mountains. There’s much more of a blur on the outer 20% of the diamondbacks and there is with the razors. I can place a high contrast object in the last 99% of the viewing window on the razors, and while not crystal clear, the image is impressively clear. This alone is a huge plus, I can set my binos on the tripod, crank them down tight, and not have to move what I am looking at to the center of the viewing window, like I would have to do with the DB’s.
The image in the razors is a more crisp and well defined at distance. Objects at a distance, appear to look more three-dimensional through the razors than they do with the diamondbacks, it’s slight but noticeable. The Diamondbacks have a little bit more of a grayscale looked to them, whereas the razors have a little bit more color pop in the image, again slight, but noticeable. I found the focus wheel to be wider and more forgiving on the Razor’s. At times I found myself “breathing” on the DB focus wheel and fighting to get it just right. Nothing unmanageable but made life easier when trying to get a quick well-defined look at something.
To be painfully honest, there have been a couple areas, that the Diamondbacks have done better at than the Razors. I found Chromatic Aberration (CA) management better on the Diamondbacks. This is not to say the Razors have it bad, but my eyes personally never picked up much CA with the Diamondbacks, but they do here and there with the Razors. My eye and head placement are more forgiving with the DB’s than the Razor’s, no significant complaint here, it is something I am naturally getting used to. Glare is another thing. On the porch, the Razors would catch a crescent moon haze that I could not duplicate with the DB’s. Very specific viewing angle towards the sun, I haven’t had this issue in the field, but in an urban environment it pops up now and again.
(I called Vortex about the glare, they said this is not something they hear about regularly, but if I end up thinking the problem is the binos then I can send them back and they will check them out.) (ALSO, shoutout to Vortex customer support, awesome team, very helpful with all the questions I had) I did buy a 2nd pair of Razors to do a side-by-side comparison on this glare topic. They arrived broken in box, diopter wheel not attached, would not lock or adjust diopter. They are currently back with Vortex getting repaired through the warranty.
I have two concluding thoughts, which I know may be controversial, and may also seem contradictory.
My recommendation for someone who was in my shoes; a rookie hunter, trying to maximize cash allocation, would want to buy low end binos, and a somewhat decent spotting scope. I had the DB 10x42’s and the Viper 15-45x65 Spotter prior to getting the Razors. I sold the spotting scope to buy the better binos. If you are limited in cash, get the combo, I have missed having a spotter in several situations thus far. The amount of game I have found in CO leaves me no doubt with the capabilities of the DB’s, great starter binos at a good price point. I think they punch above their price.
My other recommendation is to get the Razors! (told you I would contradict myself) If you can get these for sub $700, they are a great pair of binos, I am happy with my purchase and look forward to many hours behind the glass over these upcoming months. The lack of a spotting scope doesn’t worry me much, I will be getting another (nicer) spotter here over the coming months, so my time without will be limited. I look forward to having good binos AND a good spotter. Now that I have tested the waters with Western hunting, it is worth the investment in the long haul to get better optics. The quality differences give the Razor a solid upper hand over the DB's, just don't expect to be blown away. Personally, I believe its worth the extra cash.
Side story: I glassed up a herd of elk 5 miles away on Sep. 1st and I was able to make out individual elk with both the DB’s and Razor’s. Far enough away that the glass quality couldn’t be a major factor in terms of specific animal detail. I share this to say that time in the field is far more beneficial than expensive gear. Cheaper gear will still get the job done.
