Vortex Razor HD 5x20 reticle problems

[Slomotion]

Hey all, I'm brand new to the Forum and figured I might as well post something. Well I recently purchased a Vortex Razor HD 5x20 and love the scope. Until I turned on the reticle... The main cross hairs light up great, but the numbers and windage dots flicker at the edges with the slightest eye movement almost like a hologram. It is very distracting, not to mention in low light conditions you cannot see the numbers or windage dots AT ALL. So I thought, "Great! I got a scope that was damaged in shipping."

Just to be sure, I went and grabbed my other Vortex scopes to see if I was losing my mind. Well on the all of my FFP Viper PST scopes the entire reticle illuminates not just the main cross hairs. So now I think, "OK, my new $2000 Razor is definitely broken."

So I call Vortex who is always awesome to deal with to see about getting my brand new scope fixed. They pay for shipping to their repair center which is great. Well I get and email today saying that the numbers and windage holdover marks do NOT light up on the Razor HD, just the main cross hairs.

OK.... so now what? All my $1000 vortex scopes fully light up but my $2000 vortex scope only partially lights up... this seems a little backwards to me.

Can anyone explain why in low light you would not want to see parts of the reticle that are very helpful when hunting?

Also, does the illuminated reticle on the Nightforce scopes fully light up, or do they do the same as the Razor and leave off the numbers?

Thanks to all for any input.

 

[Dlewis82nd]

i do not understand, you can see the numbers flicker (go from not lighted to lighted) in the day time with the sun being out but when it gets to low light you cant see them at all? i have never heard of or seen any optic where the illumination gets less noticeable in low light conditions.

 

[Slomotion]

Sorry, I wasn't very clear... In low light, only bits and pieces of the numbers light up, and since you can't see the part of the number that isn't illuminating, it looks like a bunch of Chinese letters. the 2 looks like a small arrow pointing down to the left, the 3 looks like a semicolon, the 4 looks like a partial triangle, etc...

What I should have said was that you cannot "read" what number it is at all. In daylight you can see the numbers(part black part red), but since 1/4 of the number is illuminated and sort of flickers it is distracting.

Hope this makes more sense..

 

[Deleted member 71114]

Well welcome to the site, other then an interesting start.

Your numbers do not light up, it's very clear and represented on how the normal view is and then lit up on the Vortex web site for all of the reticles available for the 5-20x50 Razor. But at least they have the numbers for reference.

To be honest I have a EBR-3 and two EBR-2s in the 5-20x50 Razor and I don't think I have ever had to use the light, even in a night shoot once, they had a slightly illuminated target and that actually made any scope look like the best just using it without any help.

The glittering effect may be from the light somewhat reflecting in the etched glass and or with a eye piece that may not be adjusted to its optimum focus with your eye

But maybe your hunting environment demands a lit reticle.

Even most of the Night Force NXS 5.5-22x50 reticles don't even have numbers, expl.NP-R1, NP-R2 and MLR.


Cheers
osoh

 

[Sully2]

If ya dont like it....send it back!

 

[Slomotion]

Well I love the scope, so I guess I will just get used to using it the way it is. And you are right osoh, I wont use the reticle that often, except when taking hogs from a 100+yrds. This mostly happens at twilight. Thanks for the input.

 

[window licker]

Send it back.

 

[trigger puller]

I have a NF 5.5-22-50 w/ MOAR reticle and the numbers DO NOT light up however this should not be a problem once you use and get used to the scope, thats my .2