Vortex Viper spotter deal

[gobears870]

The Bass Pro mailer for their fall hunting sale has this up for $349. There’s no link to it on the BPS site, but these details for the same model number are on the Vortex site. It doesn’t look like the standard Viper HD color/finish. Does anyone know what the deal is with these “limited distribution” models? It looks like a great deal, but most things too good to be true…

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[waspocrew]

While it's a good price, I'd pass - I had a Viper HD 15-45x spotter a number of years back and it wasn't impressive at all. Very grainy image.

Vortex gets a lot of hate here, but the Gen 1 Razor is actually a pretty decent spotting scope that can be found for around $800 or less. I had a 16-48x for a couple seasons and really liked it. Only sold it when I moved to Cleveland for my residency as it wasn't going to get used at all.

 

[Kyguy]

Limited distribution runs are commissioned by a retailer or distributor for their exclusive sale. Vortex has more than a few models in all the lines that fall into that category.

 

[gobears870]

So I went and looked at this in person yesterday and passed on it. I didn’t even get it out of the display case. It’s enormous. I’m not even a backpack hunter and still wouldn’t stuff this in my pack where I go. You can check out the specs online but seeing it in person it really set in how cumbersome it is. It’s also really odd this is even part of the Viper lineup based on the design of it and finish. I guess it’s just the same glass inside.

I went a totally different route and got the Razor 13-39x56. I really like the clarity of the Razor glass for the price point and the compact version just seems pretty nifty for my uses.

 

[Kyguy]

Most 80mm scopes are on the large side, from what I've seen. Even some of the 65mm ones are bulky. But I'm still running an old Nikon Spotter XL 16-47 straight scope. I don't use one when hunting here in the east, just for range work. I need to or should upgrade it but it's a nice trim package that stows easily.