Two weeks ago I received the new vortex ranger 1500 and since a lot of stores haven't had them for sale yet I thought I would post a review. In general not a lot has changed from the 1000 model to the 1500. The appearance and feel is exactly the same as shown in the side by side picture. It also has the same features and ranging speeds as the ranger 1000. The only difference is that when you are holding the range button and scanning a small s appears in the left corner. Around the yard I could easily range anything within a 100 yards quickly and consistently. So far the unit performed just as I expected.
Now a few days later I went shed hunting and took both the ranger 1000 and ranger 1500 out to see how much they have improved with the new model. Here is where things change. With the 1000 i ranged a large building 723 yards away. The 1500 yard model couldn't even pick it up. Conditions were almost Ideal with partly cloudy skies. I began to range closer until I finally hit 467 yards. When i made it up to the mountain I found some rock faces and ranged first again with the 1000 and then the 1500. Same results as in town, I couldn't hit anything over 500 yards with the 1500.
Vortex is a great company with excellent customer service so I will be sending it back and hopefully getting a new one soon. With rangefinders like the Sig kilo 2000 and the Leopold rx 1200 tbr around the same price range this is discouraging. In a few weeks I'll post and update on my review once I swap out 1500's to give a better and more fair opinion.
