This turned out long winded, apologies in advance.
I have owned 4x Leupold VX-6HD scopes over the years. All the 3-18x44 with Firedot Duplex reticles. Good scopes all in all, but I sold them all. I now have 3x Vortex Razor HD LHT 3-15x50 with the G4i reticle on various rifles, two plinkers and my main hunting rifle. So what gives?
As much as the VX-6HD scope is the pinnacle of Leupold hunting scopes, it struggles with reticle issues. 2 of the 4 scopes I had went back for warranty work, all reticle related. Did Korth do a great job? Of course they did. One of the scopes had an issue they couldn't fix, it had to go back to Leupold USA. Still, for warranty work Korth was very good to deal with.
However, the best warranty is one you'll never use doesn't apply to the VX-6HD line of scopes. I'm sure it doesn't apply to the Vortex Razors either but I have yet to have a problem.
Are the Razor HD LHT scopes perfect in comparison? Far from it. As previously mentioned, the maginification rings are ungodly to turn. MK Machining throw levers fixed the problem but still, the Leupolds were much better in that regards.
The Razor scopes have illumination, true, but it doesn't compare to the Leupold Firedot. The Leupold Firedot is truly daytime visible and is overall much brighter that the Vortex. Both scopes have mushy illumination buttons, the Vortex being the worse of the two. For illumination controls, nothing I have used has yet to beat the Nightforce NXS Compact scopes, but I digress.
Reticles are a matter of personal preference, until actual real world performance is involved. I much prefer the Vortex G4i reticle, on paper at least. For hunting, this year has been a different story. The Vortex reticle is too fine and gets lost on deer, especially in low light. The illumination is finicky to work in a hurry. I actually had two misses this year with that reticle. Of course there are certainly other factors that contributed to the misses, but I hadn't missed in the last 3 years with the Leupold Duplex...
Further on reticles, the Firedot Duplex is wider than I would like. This is made up by the Firedot reticle of course but I'm still not a fan. For a duplex reticle, I like the ones found in the Vx-3i non illuminated scopes. Much narrower and finer center duplex. The Vortex G4i reticle is better on paper, but in my case this year I couldn't activate the illumination in time when I needed it in low light situations.
So my recommendation for you? VX-5HD duplex non illuminated reticle. I would want to look through one first to make sure it doesn't have the same wide duplex than the VX-6HD. If the Duplex is narrower like in the Vx-3i that would be my choice.
As for me, I will be keeping my Razors for now, until I decide it's time to move on. The Razor on my main hunting rifle is on the chopping block though. When it goes, it will probably get replaced by a Leupold VX-5HD.
