I have a new Savage 10 Ba coming and need optics for it, stuck between two choices: Vortex Viper 6.5-20x50 vs Bushnell 3200 7-21x40. I already have a Viper and love it but the Bushnell I can get for about $150 less and since it was an expensive rifle that would help. Shooting mostly 50-500 meters. Thoughts?
Bushnell vs Vortex
- Thread starter pizdets17
- Start date
The Viper is much better glass, hands down. The 150$ price difference more than justifies the higher performance over the Bushnell 3200, not mentioning the difference in warranties. I have owned two of the 6.5 X20 Vipers and MANY different Bushnells. You would need a 6500 to even come remotely close to comparing with the Viper.
Optics Talk rate the Vortex Viper below the Bushnell 4200 and above the 3200. I believe they are both made by the same company Light Optical Works (LOW) in Japan. The 3200 has multi coated optics, but not fully multi coated. Does the Vortex Viper have fully multi coated? If so, probably better, and likely as Optics Talk says, below 4200 and better than 3200.
My suspicion is that Vortex have no optical technology other than the e-mail, phone number, and order book for Light Optical Works in Japan. Same deal unfortunately with Bushnell, Weaver, Nightforce, and others. The good news is that LOW does produce quality products. But, it really is a mistake to think these are all different companies. They are just order offices buying from the same supplier.
so would my garage as that is where I would have to sleep after spending $1k on a scope lol
A Viper PST would look REAL GOOD on top of that new Savage you got coming! They are supposed to be available with in the next few months which will give the time to save up for it.
Interesting info indeed, but a 3200 with a 1" tube and 40MM objective lens does not compare to a Viper with a 30mm maintube and 50mm objective lens for optical quality, I don't care who manufactures the product line.
I personally feel that the 6.5-20X-50mm Viper compares favourably both performance and mechanical wise with the Bushnell 6500 4.5-30X-50mm, which sells for almost 400$ dollars more. The 4200 6-24X 50mm comes in 150$ more than the aforementioned Viper as well. Bushnells warranty service can be downright shady. Again this is all from personal experience, at the end of the day you have to look through the scope and put it through it's paces and be the judge.
It normally allows for more internal adjustment but both of the Bushnells have 50 inches of adjustment at 100 yards. The Vortex offers 68 MOA..
Ever had an issue with Bushnells products?
I have had multiple.
The word MONTH'S comes to mind except for when I had a top tier rifle scope sent into repairs and oh ya it was over a year it took to come back and yes the replacement was just as F'D up as the scope I sent back for warrenty.
Needless to say Vortex has yet to be an issue on any of my rifle's and I even have 1 on my M14 and we all know how that rifle system eats scopes & it has been working like a true champ. Also the very few times I have heard of an warrenty issue all it took was the problem scope needed to be taken into a retail store that sold there products and bam instant new scope.
Now this video is for all you Bushnell fans out there...
I dare you to try it LOL!!!
[youtube]lhx8P4cXb8w[/youtube]
[youtube]w6bXS-JIrto[/youtube]
I have had multiple.
The word MONTH'S comes to mind except for when I had a top tier rifle scope sent into repairs and oh ya it was over a year it took to come back and yes the replacement was just as F'D up as the scope I sent back for warrenty.
Needless to say Vortex has yet to be an issue on any of my rifle's and I even have 1 on my M14 and we all know how that rifle system eats scopes & it has been working like a true champ. Also the very few times I have heard of an warrenty issue all it took was the problem scope needed to be taken into a retail store that sold there products and bam instant new scope.
Now this video is for all you Bushnell fans out there...
I dare you to try it LOL!!!
[youtube]lhx8P4cXb8w[/youtube]
[youtube]w6bXS-JIrto[/youtube]
Not true. The people at Vortex USA in Middleton Wisconsin design and spec all their scopes and send it to the manufacturers overseas. Prototypes are built and tested and adjustments are made as necessary or the design is scrapped all together. That is exactly what happened with the PST line of scopes last year. The scope was found lacking, and rather than selling the scopes and dealing with them on a warranty basis, they scrapped the whole lot and went back to the design process. As long as it is made to their specs, does it matter where it is built?
Lets close out the topic of how to kill a good discussion for $1000 Alex!
Vortex withheld the Strikefire RDS back for a couple months for just that reason. They were not happy and sent messages out to all preorders telling them why they were being held back. "We would rather lose a few customers due to preorders taking longer to be filled than losing a lot of customers shipping out inferior products."
When the Strikefire RDS first came out some were sent with different bolts for the mount ring and thus you needed two tools. Others were sent out with such inferior bolts that they would snap the moment you tried to tighten them. Sadly Vortex didn't test these items before shipping out the first order. When it became known the once again withheld the next shipment to replace all the bolts with the right ones of superior quality, kept the price the same, and then of course offered free replacements to all those orders that were defective.
Since then Vortex stated they would drastically improve their quality control.
