Vortex has no value.

[Hnthrdr]

Yeah I left my backpacking stove and some Walker hearing protection ear muffs about 4 miles in after killing a mule deer. Made it all the way back to camp before I realized I left them. Decided it would be easier to order a new set. Hopefully some hunter has found them and put them to good use.

Tell me the drainage and I’m on my way

 

[Hnthrdr]

I see this as a whiny little bitch thread that says I paid too much for something ….……. And it’s somebody else’s fault. I only paid xxx but I want Swaro/zeiss quality….the OP isn’t anyone I want to know.

I own Swaro, Leica and Zeiss.…..I can afford any glass I want…..and I just bought a set of Vortex UHDs after comparing those to others.

Makes me feel pretty good about my uhd’s I picked up for a 1k went with them after comparing to some EL which were 3x the cost

 

[fmyth]

Tell me the drainage and I’m on my way

If you find yourself near Baggs WY pm me for the coordinates.

 

[CorbLand]

If you find yourself near Baggs WY pm me for the coordinates.

If you find yourself near Baggs, Wyoming, your lost as ****.

 

[JGRaider]

I see this as a whiny little bitch thread that says I paid too much for something ….……. And it’s somebody else’s fault. I only paid xxx but I want Swaro/zeiss quality….the OP isn’t anyone I want to know.

I own Swaro, Leica and Zeiss.…..I can afford any glass I want…..and I just bought a set of Vortex UHDs after comparing those to others.

How do these UHD's stack up? I'm wanting to give my son a good bino for his birthday, and don't want to spend alpha money. Anyone know if the refurbs from AA Optics come with box and everything a new set comes with?

 

[nobody]

How do these UHD's stack up? I'm wanting to give my son a good bino for his birthday, and don't want to spend alpha money. Anyone know if the refurbs from AA Optics come with box and everything a new set comes with?

I've had a pair for 2 years, picked up the 10x50's about 10 minutes after they were released to the public. Dad has had a pair for a year longer than that, he has the 12x50's. Dad had been saving Sportsman's warehouse gift cards for a few years so he could pick up a pair of EL's. When the day came, he walked in to look at the EL's (I was working at Sportsman's at the time), and asked me to take him outside with the 12x50 EL's so he could look one more time. He asked if he should look at anything else while we were going out, and I told him if he wanted he could check out the UHD's from Vortex. He decided what the heck, what would it hurt. He and I spent 45 minutes outside, in front of the store with the binos mounted on tripods, glassing a face about 2 miles away in fading light with snow on the ground and a ton of glare. After all that time and doing comparison, dad elected to purchase the UHD's instead of the Swarovski EL's. He and I both agree that the color rendition is more pure and has more "pop" through the UHD's, whereas we felt the EL's cast a blue/green hue over the entire image. It's not something we had ever picked up until right then, when we were comparing the EL's against something else. Now it's not something I'll ever UN-see. Whenever I look through Swaro glass now, my mind and eyes immediately say "GREEN."

People have a tendency to turn their nose up at Vortex. But if you can go into the purchase objectively and with an open mind, you'll be surprised. Some guys will never admit how good the UHD's actually are optically, but those that I've talked to who have been able to be objective about it have been very happy. They brought their optical A-Game to the table with the UHD's for sure.

The only perceivable "downside" for some guys is their use of the Abbe-Koenig prism system. It makes the UHD's physically large and heavy, relative to other optics of similar quality, power, and price brackets. It made it hard to find a bino harness that would work well with them (spoiler: the one they sell you with the UHD's is pretty meh). I enjoy and appreciate the extra size and weight though, as I feel it helps with balance both in hand as well as on a tripod. But I can see where some guys would have a bone to pick with their physicality.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I've had a pair for 2 years, picked up the 10x50's about 10 minutes after they were released to the public. Dad has had a pair for a year longer than that, he has the 12x50's. Dad had been saving Sportsman's warehouse gift cards for a few years so he could pick up a pair of EL's. When the day came, he walked in to look at the EL's (I was working at Sportsman's at the time), and asked me to take him outside with the 12x50 EL's so he could look one more time. He asked if he should look at anything else while we were going out, and I told him if he wanted he could check out the UHD's from Vortex. He decided what the heck, what would it hurt. He and I spent 45 minutes outside, in front of the store with the binos mounted on tripods, glassing a face about 2 miles away in fading light with snow on the ground and a ton of glare. After all that time and doing comparison, dad elected to purchase the UHD's instead of the Swarovski EL's. He and I both agree that the color rendition is more pure and has more "pop" through the UHD's, whereas we felt the EL's cast a blue/green hue over the entire image. It's not something we had ever picked up until right then, when we were comparing the EL's against something else. Now it's not something I'll ever UN-see. Whenever I look through Swaro glass now, my mind and eyes immediately say "GREEN."

People have a tendency to turn their nose up at Vortex. But if you can go into the purchase objectively and with an open mind, you'll be surprised. Some guys will never admit how good the UHD's actually are optically, but those that I've talked to who have been able to be objective about it have been very happy. They brought their optical A-Game to the table with the UHD's for sure.

The only perceivable "downside" for some guys is their use of the Abbe-Koenig prism system. It makes the UHD's physically large and heavy, relative to other optics of similar quality, power, and price brackets. It made it hard to find a bino harness that would work well with them (spoiler: the one they sell you with the UHD's is pretty meh). I enjoy and appreciate the extra size and weight though, as I feel it helps with balance both in hand as well as on a tripod. But I can see where some guys would have a bone to pick with their physicality.

Spot on assessment, they are bigger and bulkier, but I don’t mind an extra few oz on the chest. Couldn’t justify 2k more, and they fit in my marsupial harness just fine

 

[JGRaider]

Thanks for that analysis guys, and the extra details nobody. Much appreciated. I'm one of those hardheads that wouldn't take them seriously, and quite frankly I'm still not interested in any scope they offer or spotter. I had so much trouble with 3 different Leica 3200.coms I bit the bullet last Summer and bought a Fury 5000 AB. I hunted almost 100 days through just a couple weeks ago with them, and they have exceeded my expectations by a very wide margin. I have SLC's and Meostars, my buddy who I went aoudad hunting with had SV's, and you can't find anything through any of those that you can't see equally as well through the Fury's. They were al tripod mounted numerous times. Is the glass in the Fury AB as good......no, but it doesn't hinder you from finding game as well. I greatly underestimated the FuryAB before I actually used them so frequently. The RF kicks ass as well as the ballistic program.

Do you know if the refurbed AA Optics UHD's come in the box with all accessories as the new ones?

 

[Hnthrdr]

Thanks for that analysis guys, and the extra details nobody. Much appreciated. I'm one of those hardheads that wouldn't take them seriously, and quite frankly I'm still not interested in any scope they offer or spotter. I had so much trouble with 3 different Leica 3200.coms I bit the bullet last Summer and bought a Fury 5000 AB. I hunted almost 100 days through just a couple weeks ago with them, and they have exceeded my expectations by a very wide margin. I have SLC's and Meostars, my buddy who I went aoudad hunting with had SV's, and you can't find anything through any of those that you can't see equally as well through the Fury's. They were al tripod mounted numerous times. Is the glass in the Fury AB as good......no, but it doesn't hinder you from finding game as well. I greatly underestimated the FuryAB before I actually used them so frequently. The RF kicks ass as well as the ballistic program.

Do you know if the refurbed AA Optics UHD's come in the box with all accessories as the new ones?

Might have to ask the company selling them, I bought mine used off of here, didn’t come with any accessories, but they were 650 below msrp, called vortex the day they shipped and asked for new objective covers since they were gone and they were at my house before the binos showed up. I always buy vortex used since the warranty is amazing

 

[nobody]

Thanks for that analysis guys, and the extra details nobody. Much appreciated. I'm one of those hardheads that wouldn't take them seriously, and quite frankly I'm still not interested in any scope they offer or spotter. I had so much trouble with 3 different Leica 3200.coms I bit the bullet last Summer and bought a Fury 5000 AB. I hunted almost 100 days through just a couple weeks ago with them, and they have exceeded my expectations by a very wide margin. I have SLC's and Meostars, my buddy who I went aoudad hunting with had SV's, and you can't find anything through any of those that you can't see equally as well through the Fury's. They were al tripod mounted numerous times. Is the glass in the Fury AB as good......no, but it doesn't hinder you from finding game as well. I greatly underestimated the FuryAB before I actually used them so frequently. The RF kicks ass as well as the ballistic program.

Do you know if the refurbed AA Optics UHD's come in the box with all accessories as the new ones?

You are spot on sir, I appreciate the honesty about your position. That's exactly the kind of attitude you have to have with them, just look at them as a pair of binos, independent of the maker. I'm with you, I'll still never own their rifle scopes. But my Binos, RF, and Spotting Scope (and actually my tripod haha) are all Vortex. The spotter isn't as nice as a Leica, but it's not the type of thing that'll keep me from finding game. Well put.

Interesting tidbit as well, since you mentioned the RF capabilities in the Fury AB's relative to the Leica 3200.com's. Supposedly (have heard from multiple sources, though never from Vortex CS explicitly) Vortex poached Leica's lead software and design engineer over their rangefinder R&D a few years back. So as Leica has experienced problems with their RF units lately, Vortex's stuff has improved, and it's supposedly because they have an former Leica exec heading up R&D and testing on them. Essentially, the new Vortex stuff is Leica tech. Again, not confirmed directly from Vortex CS, but have heard this from multiple people close to the company on multiple different occasions and in different settings. And from my experiences, all their new RF's are a gross improvement from everything else they've ever released previously.

I'm pretty sure they do. I had a buddy buy a Gen 1 Razor Spotting scope from them back in 2021 and if I remember correctly, it came packaged and looked basically as if it was new. Otherwise, it came with all boxes, literature, packaging, cases, and foam from what I remember him telling me (again, this was a few years ago, so maybe I'm up in the night). If they don't, you can always call Vortex up and I would bet my left two lugnuts they would send you out a "care package" with all the missing accoutrement for no charge.

 

[CorbLand]

I've had a pair for 2 years, picked up the 10x50's about 10 minutes after they were released to the public. Dad has had a pair for a year longer than that, he has the 12x50's. Dad had been saving Sportsman's warehouse gift cards for a few years so he could pick up a pair of EL's. When the day came, he walked in to look at the EL's (I was working at Sportsman's at the time), and asked me to take him outside with the 12x50 EL's so he could look one more time. He asked if he should look at anything else while we were going out, and I told him if he wanted he could check out the UHD's from Vortex. He decided what the heck, what would it hurt. He and I spent 45 minutes outside, in front of the store with the binos mounted on tripods, glassing a face about 2 miles away in fading light with snow on the ground and a ton of glare. After all that time and doing comparison, dad elected to purchase the UHD's instead of the Swarovski EL's. He and I both agree that the color rendition is more pure and has more "pop" through the UHD's, whereas we felt the EL's cast a blue/green hue over the entire image. It's not something we had ever picked up until right then, when we were comparing the EL's against something else. Now it's not something I'll ever UN-see. Whenever I look through Swaro glass now, my mind and eyes immediately say "GREEN."

People have a tendency to turn their nose up at Vortex. But if you can go into the purchase objectively and with an open mind, you'll be surprised. Some guys will never admit how good the UHD's actually are optically, but those that I've talked to who have been able to be objective about it have been very happy. They brought their optical A-Game to the table with the UHD's for sure.

The only perceivable "downside" for some guys is their use of the Abbe-Koenig prism system. It makes the UHD's physically large and heavy, relative to other optics of similar quality, power, and price brackets. It made it hard to find a bino harness that would work well with them (spoiler: the one they sell you with the UHD's is pretty meh). I enjoy and appreciate the extra size and weight though, as I feel it helps with balance both in hand as well as on a tripod. But I can see where some guys would have a bone to pick with their physicality.

Ever compared them to the NLs?

 

[nobody]

Ever compared them to the NLs?

Yessir. Not as much time as I have behind the SLC's and EL's in the past, but enough in some low light situations to develop an opinion. At our Sportsman's location, everyone referred to me as the "optics guy," because I was always taking glass outside to compare when things were slow. I spent a ton of time glassing that big face behind most of the binos that Sportsman's sold for a few years. I watched lots of sunsets and lots of bedded animals at all hours of the day behind a multitude of optics from a tripod.

I'm NOT a fan of the NL's. I hate their ergonomics, the eyecups feel like they're trying to dig my eyes out of my head with an ice cream scoop haha. And in hand I just hate how they sit in my palms and fingers. They feel more... fragile? when compared to EL's or even SLC's.

Optically though, the NL's are great, though they're not the "game changer" that Swaro's marketing department would have you believe. I personally feel like the success of the NL Pure is 95% market hype, and I feel if guys could somehow be placed behind an NL Pure, EL, SLC, Razor UHD, Leica Noctivid, etc. blindly, the "differences" would be more difficult to distinguish, and the "best" binocular argument would lose water. If you can swing $3500 for binos without breaking a sweat or batting an eye, have at it. But I don't feel they warrant the fanfare. Again, they're optically great, but I'm not even a little bit tempted to save up for a pair of them.

As a disclaimer to my post PLEASE read my signature below, because at the end of the day, I'm just some random dude on the internet and this is just my opinion!

 

[JGRaider]

Ever compared them to the NLs?

At over twice the money, how would you expect them to compare? If you think you'll be missing anything you'd be sadly mistaken.

 

[JGRaider]

Yessir. Not as much time as I have behind the SLC's and EL's in the past, but enough in some low light situations to develop an opinion. At our Sportsman's location, everyone referred to me as the "optics guy," because I was always taking glass outside to compare when things were slow. I spent a ton of time glassing that big face behind most of the binos that Sportsman's sold for a few years. I watched lots of sunsets and lots of bedded animals at all hours of the day behind a multitude of optics from a tripod.

I'm NOT a fan of the NL's. I hate their ergonomics, the eyecups feel like they're trying to dig my eyes out of my head with an ice cream scoop haha. And in hand I just hate how they sit in my palms and fingers. They feel more... fragile? when compared to EL's or even SLC's.

Optically though, the NL's are great, though they're not the "game changer" that Swaro's marketing department would have you believe. I personally feel like the success of the NL Pure is 95% market hype, and I feel if guys could somehow be placed behind an NL Pure, EL, SLC, Razor UHD, Leica Noctivid, etc. blindly, the "differences" would be more difficult to distinguish, and the "best" binocular argument would lose water. If you can swing $3500 for binos without breaking a sweat or batting an eye, have at it. But I don't feel they warrant the fanfare. Again, they're optically great, but I'm not even a little bit tempted to save up for a pair of them.

As a disclaimer to my post PLEASE read my signature below, because at the end of the day, I'm just some random dude on the internet and this is just my opinion!

Ahhh........the optics looney.......not only do I appreciate it, I applaud it.

 

[CorbLand]

At over twice the money, how would you expect them to compare? If you think you'll be missing anything you'd be sadly mistaken.

Just never had the chance to compare the NLs to the UHDs.

I can tell you that the NLs blow the standard Razors out of the water. The difference in color and detail is astonishing.

 

[CorbLand]

Yessir. Not as much time as I have behind the SLC's and EL's in the past, but enough in some low light situations to develop an opinion. At our Sportsman's location, everyone referred to me as the "optics guy," because I was always taking glass outside to compare when things were slow. I spent a ton of time glassing that big face behind most of the binos that Sportsman's sold for a few years. I watched lots of sunsets and lots of bedded animals at all hours of the day behind a multitude of optics from a tripod.

I'm NOT a fan of the NL's. I hate their ergonomics, the eyecups feel like they're trying to dig my eyes out of my head with an ice cream scoop haha. And in hand I just hate how they sit in my palms and fingers. They feel more... fragile? when compared to EL's or even SLC's.

Optically though, the NL's are great, though they're not the "game changer" that Swaro's marketing department would have you believe. I personally feel like the success of the NL Pure is 95% market hype, and I feel if guys could somehow be placed behind an NL Pure, EL, SLC, Razor UHD, Leica Noctivid, etc. blindly, the "differences" would be more difficult to distinguish, and the "best" binocular argument would lose water. If you can swing $3500 for binos without breaking a sweat or batting an eye, have at it. But I don't feel they warrant the fanfare. Again, they're optically great, but I'm not even a little bit tempted to save up for a pair of them.

As a disclaimer to my post PLEASE read my signature below, because at the end of the day, I'm just some random dude on the internet and this is just my opinion!

Man, I love the feel of the NLs. They fit my hands so well and I haven’t found a pair of eye cups that don’t feel like that for me. I just leave them all the way in and hold my face off of them. The headrest is pretty sweet for long sessions behind them.

The FOV on the NLs is what really sold me on them.

Like you, I spent a lot of time behind a lot of glass glassing a hillside about two miles away. All times of day and weather. I think the NLs are flat out amazing compared to other optics. One of the few that stood up to the hype in my opinion.

How is the edge to edge on the UHDs?

 

[nobody]

Man, I love the feel of the NLs. They fit my hands so well and I haven’t found a pair of eye cups that don’t feel like that for me. I just leave them all the way in and hold my face off of them. The headrest is pretty sweet for long sessions behind them.

The FOV on the NLs is what really sold me on them.

Like you, I spent a lot of time behind a lot of glass glassing a hillside about two miles away. All times of day and weather. I think the NLs are flat out amazing compared to other optics. One of the few that stood up to the hype in my opinion.

How is the edge to edge on the UHDs?

Totally understand where you're coming from. I've talked to lots of guys who feel the exact same about the ergos of the NL's. I think the design is just a little more ergonomically extreme (not unlike the shape and size of the UHD's honestly) to the point where guys either love or hate them, and they either fit your face and hands or they don't.

After all of my testing and time behind them, the UHD (again, trying to be objective here) has edge to edge comparable to the SLC. They have a wider FOV by about 15 or 20 feet than the SLC, depending on the model you're comparing. But the edge to edge is the same.

So for a wider FOV than the SLC, comparable edge to edge to the SLC, no field flattener (I'm one of the weirdos who gets sick looking through a field flattened image) like the EL, better/truer color than the EL's and NL's (to MY eyes), and at the price of the SLC's, the UHD's win out.

Again, this is just my own observations, and I'm sure lots of guys could pile on and flame me for posting this, but I think the UHD's did a heck of a job of taking the market slot that was vacated by the SLC's when they were discontinued, and made some improvements in the process.

 

[nobody]

Ahhh........the optics looney.......not only do I appreciate it, I applaud it.

Haha, I'm glad somebody appreciates my admitted lunacy!

 

[nobody]

Just never had the chance to compare the NLs to the UHDs.

I can tell you that the NLs blow the standard Razors out of the water. The difference in color and detail is astonishing.

Completely agree with this statement, the standard Razor HD's pale in comparison with anything that's remotely "alpha." For a grand, the Razor HD's are still a good buy (especially on sale or during Vortex month or used), and I'm not in the camp who calls them worthless or tells people they're junk. But they're nowhere near the performance of any of the Alpha glass or Alpha-Minus glass. Good for what they are, but let's call a spade a spade, they're a solid option for a working-class stiff or a guy who is building a kit and is slowly upgrading gear. My now 20 year old brother got a pair working at Sportsman's with me between high school and college, and they've been great for him in the interim. But he is fast to admit they're not the "end all be all" of the binocular world.

 

[CorbLand]

Totally understand where you're coming from. I've talked to lots of guys who feel the exact same about the ergos of the NL's. I think the design is just a little more ergonomically extreme (not unlike the shape and size of the UHD's honestly) to the point where guys either love or hate them, and they either fit your face and hands or they don't.

After all of my testing and time behind them, the UHD (again, trying to be objective here) has edge to edge comparable to the SLC. They have a wider FOV by about 15 or 20 feet than the SLC, depending on the model you're comparing. But the edge to edge is the same.

So for a wider FOV than the SLC, comparable edge to edge to the SLC, no field flattener (I'm one of the weirdos who gets sick looking through a field flattened image) like the EL, better/truer color than the EL's and NL's (to MY eyes), and at the price of the SLC's, the UHD's win out.

Again, this is just my own observations, and I'm sure lots of guys could pile on and flame me for posting this, but I think the UHD's did a heck of a job of taking the market slot that was vacated by the SLC's when they were discontinued, and made some improvements in the process.

I will have to see if I can get my hands on the UHDs and compare them to my NLs.

I will never pay for a single item from Vortex for a couple reasons but I have heard the UHDs are pretty impressive. Just never had a chance to look through them.