Vortex Razor UHD 18x56 Review, By Jared Bloomgren

[Vortex Optics]

Huge bummer to hear that this happened. Should go without saying, but that is an extremely out-of-the-norm occurrence and absolutely something we would never expect to see nor want to see whether the product was brand new or put through years of hard use and abuse. Fact is - things happen, but when you only have a sample size of one and something goes mega wrong like it did for you, it's easy to feel as though the product overall is just a dud. We're dead set on proving that's not the case.

It sounds like you're a bit concerned about timeliness on our part to get things taken care of. We're checking with our customer care team right now to see who fielded your contact. Our team down there is quick and we put a bug in their ear to make this one happen extra quickly. If we get moving, we can get the necessary documents to you to get it back to us today, and could have a perfect pair of binoculars to you by the beginning part of next week. That's even a safe estimate on our end.

Please let me know if you have any other questions at all. Looking forward to making this right. - Jimmy H [email protected]

Edit - sounds like you chatted with Larry on Tuesday (Sorry it took us so long to get to on here) and again on the phone today but have a hunt tomorrow - just getting caught up on this. The offer still stands for the next 3 hours or so to priority overnight a new perfect set of binos to you for your hunt tomorrow. Otherwise if you wish to go the Cabela's return route, then that works too and we'll just take this as an opportunity to continue to strive for as close to a 0% problem standard as humanly possible.

 

[Agar426]

Great review! Last year I picked up a pair of the Kaibab 18x56 HDs, and am actually considering selling them to get the UHDs. I need to look through them first. To be honest, I'm sure the Kaibabs will/would suit me well for many years. I am satisfied with the glass quality, even thought I know there is better out there. The one area I have fight with is the eye cups. I do my best to not touch the eye cups when using a tripod, but it can be a little tricky to get a complete picture easily. Even if my eyelashes touch them, it rattles the image. I'm sure that's more a product of the 18x, and not the eye cups, but, as I said, a good site window doesn't seem to "fall naturally" into place. Now mind you, I'm not saying they are difficult, it just takes a little bit of work. Then again, maybe all high powered binos are that way?

 

[robby denning]

Great review! Last year I picked up a pair of the Kaibab 18x56 HDs, and am actually considering selling them to get the UHDs. I need to look through them first. To be honest, I'm sure the Kaibabs will/would suit me well for many years. I am satisfied with the glass quality, even thought I know there is better out there. The one area I have fight with is the eye cups. I do my best to not touch the eye cups when using a tripod, but it can be a little tricky to get a complete picture easily. Even if my eyelashes touch them, it rattles the image. I'm sure that's more a product of the 18x, and not the eye cups, but, as I said, a good site window doesn't seem to "fall naturally" into place. Now mind you, I'm not saying they are difficult, it just takes a little bit of work. Then again, maybe all high powered binos are that way?

Hey thanks for chiming in. You’re referring to eye relief. And I’ve noticed Vortex is always a little weak in that area. If they got the eye relief up to Swaro’s they’d be that much more competitive.


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[Agar426]

Hey thanks for chiming in. You’re referring to eye relief. And I’ve noticed Vortex is always a little weak in that area. If they got the eye relief up to Swaro’s they’d be that much more competitive.


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How do the UHDs compare to the Kaibabs in this department? It stands to reason the UHDs have better optical characteristics, but what about the other stuff, ergonomics, eye relief, etc, etc? Would it be worth it to upgrade to the UHDs?

 

[Tahoe1305]

I had a pair of 12x50 UHDs and compared to a buddies 15x56 Kaibabs. UHDs blew them away IMO. I could resolve more with 12xs than 15s. Felt eye relief (different size obviously) was better. Biggest difference I noticed was edge to edge clarity on UHDs. I thought ergonomics where good and focus and whatnot very smooth. If I recall focus wheel spun about 2.5 times so a bit more sensitive than normal but I didn’t have an issue. Cool perk coming with a good bino harness too but I assume many will place in others. I was really impressed with UHDs and will be looking for a future good deal on the 18s if my hunting situation ever dictates that mag range.

 

[robby denning]

How do the UHDs compare to the Kaibabs in this department? It stands to reason the UHDs have better optical characteristics, but what about the other stuff, ergonomics, eye relief, etc, etc? Would it be worth it to upgrade to the UHDs?

Unfortunately I have not been able to try the UHD.


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[robby denning]

I had a pair of 12x50 UHDs and compared to a buddies 15x56 Kaibabs. UHDs blew them away IMO. I could resolve more with 12xs than 15s. Felt eye relief (different size obviously) was better. Biggest difference I noticed was edge to edge clarity on UHDs. I thought ergonomics where good and focus and whatnot very smooth. If I recall focus wheel spun about 2.5 times so a bit more sensitive than normal but I didn’t have an issue. Cool perk coming with a good bino harness too but I assume many will place in others. I was really impressed with UHDs and will be looking for a future good deal on the 18s if my hunting situation ever dictates that mag range.

Thanks for the comparison


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[FlyGuy]

I, too, would love to see a side x side comparison between these and the Maven 18x Binos.

I've had a crush on those Mavens for a while now but my budget for 2019 was maxed and I have too many optics as it is. I have Meostar 15x that are great, but for the weight penalty I just don't gain enough over my 10x SLC to carry them very often. (my base bino's are 8x32 EL for archery or 10x42 SLC for rifle). I also have a Kowa 77 spotter that I love for a number of applications, but I don't often carry it due to weight. I hunt everything I can but very few of my pursuits require all day glassing, so I about 3 days into a hunt I usually end up with my 8x or 10x binos on my chest and the small vortex 55 spotter in my pack on a very lightweight granite peak tripod.

I also have a narrow inter-pupillary distance, but I don't know what it is? Is there a way to measure it at home? I would really like to know what that actual measurement is for me so that I can factor it into future Bino purchasing decisions.

 

[Tahoe1305]

I have the demo Mavens enroute and also ordered some UHDs last week. Hoping to get both sometime in next few weeks. I will provide some thoughts once I get them and try and measure the inter pupil if that helps.

 

[Brix8984]

Thank you for the great review!

 

[Hemmert6187]

Great review provided a lot of clarity!


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[Racethesunset]

As a follow up, I’ve got the EL 12, SLC HD 15, and UHD 18 on their own tripods today. Testing, comparing, playing around. Optically, the UHD, like the EL, doesn’t appear to resolve as much detail as the SLC HD dead center.

 

[Brix8984]

As a follow up, I’ve got the EL 12, SLC HD 15, and UHD 18 on their own tripods today. Testing, comparing, playing around. Optically, the UHD, like the EL, doesn’t appear to resolve as much detail as the SLC HD dead center.

So I’ve narrowed it down to the 18uhd or the Meopta 15 hd for tripod use. Have you seen the Meopta? If so which would you recommend?

 

[Racethesunset]

So I’ve narrowed it down to the 18uhd or the Meopta 15 hd for tripod use. Have you seen the Meopta? If so which would you recommend?

What are you complementing it with?

 

[Brix8984]

What are you complementing it with?

A meostar s2 and a 11-33x50 razor

 

[Tahoe1305]

For everyone’s SA that were interested in maven/UHD 18x comparison. I got the mavens and UHDs in today. Going to start a new thread if some are interested, to avoid hijacking Jared’s original. Happy to entertain questions and thoughts for testing. Will have both for about a week.

 

[Racethesunset]

A meostar s2 and a 11-33x50 razor

I do not have the Meopta on hand so tough call.

From a practical standpoint, I'd want to stay in the same family of binoculars for consistent handling, focus, eye position, etc.

BUT, given your 50mm spotter... it does its job, I just wonder if 18x UHD with two eyes can resolve almost as much...

 

[mmann8891]

Great review.

 

[kjigou]

Are there any reviews out there that compare the razor he vs uhd 12x50s anyone know of

 

[Tahoe1305]

Are there any reviews out there that compare the razor he vs uhd 12x50s anyone know of

I compared the 10HD to 12 UHD. Search $1000 bino comparison here. BL: UHDs were better in every way except size and weight.

Worth the $$$ jump, maybe in the 12x model. Wouldn’t in any other I don’t think (except 18x...only a few others available).