Vortex razor?

[EJN]

I just picked up a new Kimber (308) Advanced Tactical and I need to put a good scope on it. I will be shooting to 750-1000 yrds. I wanted to know if any of you have owned or have experience using the new Vortex Razor 5x22x50. Should I get the Nightforce 5.5x20x50 or something else? I have not been able to find any articals about the Razor, however the specs look pretty good. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Bearwalk]

I own both and both are great scopes. IMO you get a bit more for your money with the Razor. I plan to purchase both again in the future. My determination is based on whether I want FFP or not for rifle it will call home.

Comparison based on my experience:

• Zero stop - standard with Razor - both work as designed.
• 35mm tube w/ Razor vs 30mm w/ NXS, though I get all the adjustment I ever need from the NXS
• Optics are very similar in quality on both scopes at least to this part-time photographer's eyes. To me, the Razor sometimes has the edge here.
• Much prefer the numbering and graduations on the Razor reticle
• High speed turrets std w/ razor, although NF gives you more MOA per turn if you do upgrade
• tracking is excellent on both scopes
• Both could be run over with a D5 and still function just fine, though the NXS has the record to prove it. Razor actually feels more "beefy" to me.
• Both are heavy enough to substantially reduce recoil !
• Razor has better thought out engineering, for example, the illumination dial has an off-position between every level of adjustment. You are always one click away from turning off the illumination. Scope was obviously designed by a "shooter".
• Razor comes with scope level and Flashkill - nice!
• 35mm rings are hard to find if you need a high mount. I ran in to this on my FAR Titan. Medium Vortex rings should be fine for most bolt action rifles.
• And, of course, the FFP vs SFP question has to be answered for your particular application. Sometimes, I want SFP and so the nod goes to NF on this occasion. The Razor reticle does get a little small at low power, but is still usable.
• I have not had to use NF customer service. I understand it is excellent. I have used Votex CS and it is phenomenal. When I first bought my Razor, it did not have the eyebox upgrade that Vortex just came out with. I called them and they had me send it in for a free upgrade. They could not have been any friendlier on the phone. I mailed (std snail mail) the scope on a Fri from upstate NY to Vortex in Wisconsin. I received the scope back on the following Wed....I'll leave the math as an exercise . Suffice it to say, that someone probably stayed late to turn my scope around when I had already assured them I was in no particular hurry. That's the kind of service that made this country great not so long ago.

 

[berryreed]

I have the razor on my .338 RUM so far I am very pleased with it.

 

[Chappy22]

Great scope and wicked glass. Everything on it is rock solid. I have mine in the EBR-1 MOA and i would have to say that unless you don't use a hand held range finder or need a reticule to do the range finding i would go with the nightforce. I have not been able to look through both side by side but i have read reviews on them and the vortex is every bit as good if not better than the nightforce. It depends on who is looking through the two of them though. I think the razor is amazing and really like it but there are reviews done on the snipershide website so you should ckeck it out. If you can look through both the razor and nightforce side by side you should that way you can see which one is better for you.

 

[EJN]

Gentlemen,

Thank you guys for your feed back. I think I will do a side by side compairson at the NRA show this week here in Pittsburgh. I have lined up contacts at Nightforce and Vortex who will be attending the show. Looking to bring one of scopes home this weekend.

 

[jponto]

I have a Razor I am testing now. Inital inspections concluded the parallax could not be set or elminated. Also the mechanism appears to have a rubber drag which causes it to creep.

One interior lense is grossly contaminated and can easily be seen from viewing through the objective in bright sunlight.

Ther was some optical distortion but still need to investigate this.

Day performance okay (Minox) had better resolution. At night (under street light) the razor bet the Minox 5-20 but the Minox is less then half the cost of the razor.

When they send the replacement hopefully it will be perfect and can actually be test fired to see how tracking is. Apparently the Vipors are reportedly sluggish.

Will compare it the Nightforce 5-22x56 (not a real fair comparison due to the objective size) and my favorite Swarovski Z6 - 2.5-15x56 FL HD scope. Second to none so far but we will see how the Premier Ret compares.

 

[jmt]

I own both and both are great scopes. IMO you get a bit more for your money with the Razor. I plan to purchase both again in the future. My determination is based on whether I want FFP or not for rifle it will call home.

Comparison based on my experience:

• Zero stop - standard with Razor - both work as designed.
• 35mm tube w/ Razor vs 30mm w/ NXS, though I get all the adjustment I ever need from the NXS
• Optics are very similar in quality on both scopes at least to this part-time photographer's eyes. To me, the Razor sometimes has the edge here.
• Much prefer the numbering and graduations on the Razor reticle
• High speed turrets std w/ razor, although NF gives you more MOA per turn if you do upgrade
• tracking is excellent on both scopes
• Both could be run over with a D5 and still function just fine, though the NXS has the record to prove it. Razor actually feels more "beefy" to me.
• Both are heavy enough to substantially reduce recoil !
• Razor has better thought out engineering, for example, the illumination dial has an off-position between every level of adjustment. You are always one click away from turning off the illumination. Scope was obviously designed by a "shooter".
• Razor comes with scope level and Flashkill - nice!
• 35mm rings are hard to find if you need a high mount. I ran in to this on my FAR Titan. Medium Vortex rings should be fine for most bolt action rifles.
• And, of course, the FFP vs SFP question has to be answered for your particular application. Sometimes, I want SFP and so the nod goes to NF on this occasion. The Razor reticle does get a little small at low power, but is still usable.
• I have not had to use NF customer service. I understand it is excellent. I have used Votex CS and it is phenomenal. When I first bought my Razor, it did not have the eyebox upgrade that Vortex just came out with. I called them and they had me send it in for a free upgrade. They could not have been any friendlier on the phone. I mailed (std snail mail) the scope on a Fri from upstate NY to Vortex in Wisconsin. I received the scope back on the following Wed....I'll leave the math as an exercise . Suffice it to say, that someone probably stayed late to turn my scope around when I had already assured them I was in no particular hurry. That's the kind of service that made this country great not so long ago.

are you still happy with your razor ? i want to buy one

thanks

 

[jponto]

I wouldn't recommend buying any of the 2011 Razor scopes based on the 3 scopes I had in my hands (the three had parallax creep (after setting) and could not have parallax completely reomoved. 2 of the 3 had contaminated interior/glass. Incidentally, the last hand picked one had all 3 problems.

I think Vortex is striving for minimum level Nightforce Competition but they are falling a bit short at the present time. Glass was better then the Nightforce I tested them to but the scopes were not useable with this parallax issue.

Contamination well it can happen to any of them. The last nightforce scope that was sent back for repair came back more contaminated then when I sent it to them. Sad but true. I think most people just aren't looking... they are relying on reputation etc.

I have a Razor I am testing now. Inital inspections concluded the parallax could not be set or elminated. Also the mechanism appears to have a rubber drag which causes it to creep.

One interior lense is grossly contaminated and can easily be seen from viewing through the objective in bright sunlight.

Ther was some optical distortion but still need to investigate this.

Day performance okay (Minox) had better resolution. At night (under street light) the razor bet the Minox 5-20 but the Minox is less then half the cost of the razor.

When they send the replacement hopefully it will be perfect and can actually be test fired to see how tracking is. Apparently the Vipors are reportedly sluggish.

Will compare it the Nightforce 5-22x56 (not a real fair comparison due to the objective size) and my favorite Swarovski Z6 - 2.5-15x56 FL HD scope. Second to none so far but we will see how the Premier Ret compares.

 

[Scot E]

Gentlemen,

Thank you guys for your feed back. I think I will do a side by side compairson at the NRA show this week here in Pittsburgh. I have lined up contacts at Nightforce and Vortex who will be attending the show. Looking to bring one of scopes home this weekend.

The various choices in reticles may help you make up your mind as well.

Here is some good reading for you.

High End Tactical Scopes: East vs West

Vortex Razor - Sniper's Hide Forums

Good Luck!

Scot E.