Thread: Decisions Scope

I'm deer hunter. mostly native and Pines. 10-15% of my time would b or mite be hill tops.. long distance or thermal out to 400m.
currently 7mm08 rifle.

Love the vx5 3-15 44 duplex. fire dot.now selling 2k.
today I looked through th vortex HS 4-16X44.
$1100
I had both today in shop trying to tell the difference between the 2 - what I'm I missing for 1k price difference?

Having owned a HST 4-16 and own multiple leupolds now.

The Vortex in low light isn't bad.

But when you put it up against a VX5. No competition to my eyes. Better FOV and all-round the vx5 in every way makes the extra $900 Retail well worth the investment. With the vx5 set and forget them. Don't worry about it when using it properly and if it you bump it with the usual knocks the leupold will hold zero. My Vortex did not.

I hope this somewhat answers you're query but that's based on my own experience

Firedot is a brilliant feature.

I have several Vortex scopes and the one you looked at. As stated the Vortex is good value for money, don't believe what some people say about there usefulness in lower light conditions, i haven't had a situation were another brand scope of better quality would have been any better. They seem to hold zero well.
I have a VX 5 on my 300 WM and love that one too, yes you do get better glass with the VX5 and they dial well as do the Vortex, for the extra money if you can afford it go for the VX5 but if not Vortex should work for you , both have a good warranty in place.

Vortex is a good price point scope, but you will never regret spending the extra on a VX5, it is a lifetime purchase.

Originally Posted by Huntfisheat

About 15 minutes of extra shootable light on the Leupy so that's 30 minutes a day when the animals are most active to make that big walk pay off.

A great example of how Leupolds are held in such high reverence in NZ, such that 'mythical' figures are thrown around without any semblance of truth.

much thanks to all the replies. appreciate the time and intel

Have had a couple of Vortex scopes and found them “ok”, but variable optical quality. Some scopes we’re not optically clear, others were ok. Had one replaced under warranty, the replacement was clear but not as good as Leupy or other brands IMO. Can’t fault the customer service and no question regarding replacement. For price point they’re ok, but plenty others to consider. Don’t limit yourself to Leupy vs Vortex. Sightron, Delta Titanium, older Bushnells (6500 Elite) or Tactical, Zeiss HD5 , Burris Signature all very good options. In my experience these are optically better than Vortex, but I have not looked at new scopes recently so Vortex might have upped their game. The firedot reticle on the leupy VX5 and 6 is excellent as @Shearer has mentioned. If you “only” want to shoot out to 400 yds then a reticle with good hold over graduations will do the job. Also is it mostly bush and a bit of tops hunting don’t rule out 2-10x or 2or3-12x scopes.

I’m a huge fan of the VX5’s, I have two myself. Great glass, light weight, and I really like the zero lock turrets. You don’t have to be worried about bumping them out of place in the hills. I haven’t had any experience with the Vortex, however, if I was in the market for another similar scope, I’d take a close look at the Vortex Razor HD LHT 3-15x42. It’s priced between the Viper and VX5, similar weight and features as the VX5, although I’m not a huge fan of its reticle.

Originally Posted by Huntfisheat

Actually that's based on being side by side with a mate in the mountains, he with a VX5 and me with my Viper. I say 15 minutes because that's when I couldn't accurately define a shape through my scope that was quite clearly viewable through his.
So perhaps rather than decrying my statement as without "semblance of truth" you might want to consider not being a rude arrogant cunt. Just a thought.

Optical quality is kind of a catch-all term used to describe the brightness, clarity, and color of the image through a scope. Optical quality is also somewhat hard to quantify as its entirely based on one’s perceptions and opinions, so there’s plenty of room for debate on this topic.
However when I compared my VX5HD with my Vortex Viper PST the difference was less than 3 minutes.

I’d give Leupold the edge in optical quality across the board. However, that edge comes at the price of the increased or higher costs typically associated with Leupold. Now that doesn’t mean that every single Leupold scope has brighter, more clear glass than every single Vortex scope. It means that looking at each brand as a whole; my opinion is Leupold has slightly better glass. As Leupold has managed to show, their scopes are a little more well-rounded and better thought out than Vortex.

"Rude arrogant cunt" ...that statement says more about you than it does me.

You couldn't give me a vortex with what I have seen and heard myself.
They are half the price of quality optics so you can buy 2 to have one as a spare.
Chances are you would need 3 as two probably away at the same time.
For those of you that own and rate them I would suggest it has been good luck or the very high end models you own.
Seen one not even lasting sighting in last year.
Leupy or something similar price as with optics you only get what you pay for.


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Both Vortex and Leupold offer a range of scopes, going from cheap to expensive. Vortex's line up is more ad hoc and all over the place, with a lot of overlapping price points. Leupold is more linear.

If you want to compare Viper 4-16, compare it to VX3 4.5-14 SF, or VX2 6.5-18. The Leupolds have better glass and are lighter, but have more restricted zoom range and cost more, but they are made in the USA while Vipers are made in the Philippines. To be honest Leupold does not compete in the mid-low end with feature, so you will always find more features on the competitions than Leupold.

The corresponding Vortex scope to VX5HD is the Razor LHT, about $1700, has better dial, better reticle, IR in all models. But VX5 is (subjectively) a hair better imagine quality and (subjectively) better feel to it. The LHT is also very light and is made in Japan. Personally I think the LHT is the most competitive product Vortex has ever released.

I do not believe Vortex offers "good value" in their most of their scopes. The Viper 4-16 is not a bad product but at 1100 it has a lot of stiff competitions. If you want "good value", you could look at Nikko Stirling Diamond 4-16 Long Range, it is $450 and has similar features to the Viper. Most people say the glass is quite good too.

Originally Posted by Huntfisheat

If you want "good value", you could look at Nikko Stirling Diamond 4-16 Long Range, it is $450 and has similar features to the Viper. Most people say the glass is quite good too.

Had Nikko Stirling Diamond Long Range 6 -24 X 50 on a .204 for pest control work. Having used it for about a year I can categorically state that, for my eyes, theres a lot of difference betweeen that scope and my Viper. The Nikko was OK up to about 18 X, then lost a shit load of sharpness after that. Light gathering at that higher end, as with all scopes, was poor, but it was a $450 scope. To my eyes the Viper was way better than that and in real low light, I was snotting rabbits out to a fair distance (300) with 120grainers with that long after the Nikko had given up the ghost. But, again, it's worth twice as much, so that's to be expected too.

Is your viper the 4-16 hs?

There is a viper 6-24 hst, 1250, and pst, almost 2k

Never owned a Vortex but have owned quite a few Leupolds. The only comment worth makin, is that if all of the "reverence" around Leupold scopes was mythical, they wouldn't be as reliable, well built, and as "Kiwi-Tested" as they obviously are.
In other words, if they were a crap product, they'd be gone off the market years ago.
The quality of my VX6 is right up there, so no reason why a VX 5 wouldn't be the same. Comes down to how much $$$ you want to spend

Also look at the Burris HT 3.5-15 for there Money they are pretty dam good

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