Viper vs razor spotting scope

[winmag]

I get it, everyone has a budget. Just trying to help you understand my experience. If those are the options, try the razor.

Is there a Cabelas or anywhere at all you can drive to that has a viper and a razor for you to look at before buying? If so, take your tripod and your Bushnell. Convince someone working there to let you take them outside at dusk and compare all three. You may find you’re better off keeping your Bushnell and your money.

 

[The Lame Trapper]

I get it, everyone has a budget. Just trying to help you understand my experience. If those are the options, try the razor.

Is there a Cabelas or anywhere at all you can drive to that has a viper and a razor for you to look at before buying? If so, take your tripod and your Bushnell. Convince someone working there to let you take them outside at dusk and compare all three. You may find you’re better off keeping your Bushnell and your money.

I'm actually heading there tomorrow. I was planning on bringing my bushnell. I cant see 1000yds at 45x with it. If the vortex is that bad, I will sell my truck and buy the 115mm swaro

 

[MTLabrador]

I'm actually heading there tomorrow. I was planning on bringing my bushnell. I cant see 1000yds at 45x with it. If the vortex is that bad, I will sell my truck and buy the 115mm swaro

I’ve seen some great deals on 60mm Leupold Gold Rings too. They’re very good scopes on a budget. Might look for a used Nikon ED Fieldscope too.

 

[Salmonchaser]

I’ve got my razor, 20x60x85mm for sale

 

[ida homer]

I also have the vortex pro deal. Unfortunately it’s 50% off of their marked up website MSRP, not the market price on dozens of websites.

I own Vortex, Bushnell and Swaro glass. With that being said, if you’re hooked on western hunting, you will want to end up with alpha glass in a spotter. What you don’t want to do is waste money throughout the upgrade progress, like I did, when you will likely end up with Swaro in 10 years anyway. Mark my words.

Razor glass is pretty good glass. Viper glass is not great. Swaro, Kowa and Zeiss smoke the razor glass though.

 

[morgaj1]

You guys find me a better spotting scope for $900 and I will happily buy it. It's what I can afford and like thousands of other people, they have not given me any problems. I'm literally upgrading from a 15-45x50 bushnell for my 1 to 2 trips out west I will be taking per year.

Completely understand budget. I would take a hard look at Kowa.

 

[rtraverdavis]

@The Lame Trapper I completely understand where you’re at with budget and wanting to take advantage of a discount. A couple years ago I sold my drift boat so I could build up my hunting gear, which was severely lacking. There was a whole slew of gear I needed to get, so I had to be very conscious of my overall budget. I ended up buying a gen1 65mm Razor on pretty deep discount—I think it was like 800 bucks—when they were phasing the new ones in. Compared to my dad’s 80mm Viper, the Razor was noticeably better across all conditions, even with the smaller objective lens. For the money I paid, it’s a decent little spotter. If you get a Razor, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

That said, what @twsnow18 wrote is the absolute truth. I’ve spent some time in the evening looking through my buddy’s Swaro at varied distances and it blows my Razor out of the water. I went mid-level thinking it would be a piece of gear I’d have long-term, and now I’m thinking of what else I could sell or do to afford the alpha glass.

 

[The Lame Trapper]

I drove out to vortex and spent a hour and a half with one of there optics techs looking through all there scopes across there fields, at optics charts, and with other eyepieces. I went in to buy the razor 85 and decided to come home with the viper 65. If anyone is around south western wisconsin, I recommend stopping in there. They have every product they make set out you you can test all of them for yourself. Also they are honest. The tech told me not to buy there tripod because they are overpriced for what they are and that the viper was what I was ultimately looking for in optics. It was a good time. Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[roravetz]

I drove out to vortex and spent a hour and a half with one of there optics techs looking through all there scopes across there fields, at optics charts, and with other eyepieces. I went in to buy the razor 85 and decided to come home with the viper 65. If anyone is around south western wisconsin, I recommend stopping in there. They have every product they make set out you you can test all of them for yourself. Also they are honest. The tech told me not to buy there tripod because they are overpriced for what they are and that the viper was what I was ultimately looking for in optics. It was a good time. Thanks for the input everyone.

What made you go with the Viper 65 instead of the Razor 85?

 

[The Lame Trapper]

What made you go with the Viper 65 instead of the Razor 85?

There just wasn't enough optical difference to justify the increase in price. They have gotten the viper very close to the razor's in the new models. It was very hard to tell any difference between them. And the viper 85 is massive. It's 2 inches longer than the razor 85 and weighs 11oz more. So I went with the viper 65 for the smaller size. It's almost the same size as the razor 65 and damn near the same optical quality. For $600 less

 

[footingit]

I’m a bit late to the party, but Sportsman’s has the Razor for $750

Vortex Razor HD 20-60x85 Spotting Scope - Angled

Vortex Razor HD 20-60x85 Spotting Scope - Angled - Simply one of the finest spotting scopes you can buy, the top-tier Razor HD spotting scope competes at the highest level of performance. The sophisticated triplet apochromatic lens system delivers high-definition views across the entire field of...

www.sportsmans.com