Vortex scope issues

greg olmstead

greg olmstead

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alberta
I have a 1-6 strike eagle. It has debris in the scope that is very visible and distracting while shooting in low light conditions with the illumination on.

Now this doesnt suprise me as it is a vortex scope and out of every one I've owned they all seem to have or had something wrong with them.

I've owned:
Viper PST 6-24
VIPER HS 6-42
VIPER 6.5-20X44
VIPER 6.5-20X50
CROSSFIRE II 3-9X44
STRIKE EAGLE 1-6X24

The PST wouldnt track. I tried the tall target test and It was out 5 CM at 500 meters and 1 cm at 100m

The Hs wouldnt focus at anything higher than 20 power at anything further than 500 meters

The viper 6.5-20x44 was probably the most reliable and best out of them all but still had issues with tracking and back to zero. It wasnt much but it was noticeable at 100. I would dial to 300 from 100 m zero and shoot at 300. Dial back to 100 and the first shot would be off by 3/4 to one inch at 100 for 1 shot then it was back to normal.

The 6.5-20x50 fell apart while mounted and being used on my modern sporter the windage knob retaining bolt unscrewed and fell out. Now this is a fix I can do myself but still shouldn't happen.

The strike eagle is dirty inside the glass as stated above

And finally the crossfire ll wouldnt hold zero. I could shoot and shoot and make a 5 inch group at 100 random dispersed all over the place. Switched back to my regular scope on the rifle and I was back to shooting around an inch at 100.

This has been over the course of 7 years. But every single vortex scope I've owned has failed. Not to mention the ones I've seen at the range fail and try and help diagnose.

I understand they have the "best warranty in the bussiness" but why in the hell should that be a main selling point for optics. It's basically saying your scope will fail and when it does we will fix it for you or replace it.

I would like to hear everyone else's vortex failure stories and a little background about what happened and what you where doing when It happened. I cant be alone in the world of vortex failures on here.

I dont need a well Leupold scopes fail too. I know they do and I know every optic manufacturer have optics fail. That's not what I want. I want vortex failures.
 
Because everyone is always telling me how good they are and how awesome the warranty is. Also I find them on sale for a steeply discounted price like when prophet river runs the open box sale
 
Nothing wrong with giving a company a second chance. And I should mention that the PST viper hs viper and crossfire were all bought close together and before any of them had any issuses. Picked up the 50mm viper last year around Christmas. There was over a 5 year gap between the crossfire and most recent viper. Figured maybe they had improved their QC. But I see they havent
 
One of the other US brands is better because they "repair" the optics instead of sending you a new one. Nevermind the dings in the scope's finish when you get it back. It's just part of their service. lol
 
You get what you pay for. I like how guys buy a $300 scope and expect $2000 service life. Is it so bad they replace their Chinese/Filipino made scopes no questions asked? Like said above. Buy a razor and be done. Even at that, they’ll replace it too if you’re able to abuse it enough. I’ve had lots of Vortex stuff. Very little trouble and excellent customer service!
 
greg olmstead said:
I've seen 2 dead razors first hand. They arent immune to failures either. I helped diagnose a razor that wouldnt hold zero.
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I've had more issues with Leupold's than I have my Vortex's (and yes I've had issues with Vortex too). The problem I had was when I had issues with my Leupold, I sent it in and it took 6 weeks to get it back and the customer service was less than stellar when I called to inquire about the progress. Vortex on the other hand sent me a shipping label to overnight it to them, they then directly shipped it to the states the next day. It was fixed, they did a reticle swap and MOA to MRAD conversion for free and sent it back to me within the week!

I don't buy cheap, so I expect the company to stand behind their product regardless. How Vortex stood by their product impressed me so I'm more than happy to get rid of my Leupold's and run Vortex.
 
greg olmstead said:
I've seen 2 dead razors first hand. They arent immune to failures either. I helped diagnose a razor that wouldnt hold zero.
Click to expand...

Truly anything can break. Doesnt matter how expensive or "solid" it is. Ive personally had a Aimpoint Micro sh!t the bed and it needed to go back to Sweden for warranty work. The reality is that better quality product has a much lower failure rate so theoretically, if you buy solid product like a razor, trijicon, khailes, etc your chance of failure will be significantly reduced.
 
The only issues I've ever had was the 3-9x vipers I own they do not magnify fully, I've tried to get them fixed but they say nothing they can do, I like them so I kept both, no offer of replacement either
 
Haven't had any of my Vortex scopes #### the bed yet but it looks like my $3K Nightforce is going out for repairs: won't track / hold zero.
Just goes to show that it happens to all of them......
 
I am disappointed to hear about these scopes being crappy.

I really like the simple reticle. It looks like it would be very handy for sighting in at 50 yards and holding over with those few hash marks for 75 and 100 yards.

Does anybody know of a decent scope for my 10/22 with a similar reticle that isn't crappy? Probably have to spend $400 or so?

T'anks.
 
stewbud said:
I am disappointed to hear about these scopes being crappy.

I really like the simple reticle. It looks like it would be very handy for sighting in at 50 yards and holding over with those few hash marks for 75 and 100 yards.

Does anybody know of a decent scope for my 10/22 with a similar reticle that isn't crappy? Probably have to spend $400 or so?

T'anks.
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You’re disappointed that all vortex scopes are crappy? Do you have access to the world wide interweb??
 
I’ll share in the spirit of getting back on topic.
I purchased a Razor AMG used from a vendor. Shortly after receiving it, it was noticed that there was some black dots on the inside of the ocular lense.
It was sent to Vortex and then sent to the USA because it was originally manufactured there. 3 weeks after sending it in, it was replaced under warranty. The note in the box said the rings had been over tightened, crushing the tube inside. This being an amg makes it a special case. I was happy with the whole process and outcome considering I paid for a used scope (damaged) and ended up with a brand new scope. Even after it had been destroyed by the previous owner. The vendor who sold it to me went good on the shipping but wasn’t interested in refunding...
In the end, it’s my favourite scope next to my TT. It’s been kept over S&B, Razor Gen2 and an ATACR.
 
I had debris in my Leupold vx1, but never had to deal with their warranty as Fly's exchanged it for one that didn't have #### floating around in it.
I only partially agree with the "you get what you pay for" mentality when it comes to scopes. Glass quality, sure, but warranty is a factor. I've read a few bad stories of people fighting for warranty on $3k+ German glass. If you buy inexpensive glass with awesome warranty, at least you won't be stuck with a paperweight if something happens.

I only own three $1400+ scopes, a gen 2 PST, a zeiss v4 and a Bushy XRS 2, so my experience is limited when it comes to higher end glass. A big "lubricant" in getting my wallet to open for the PST and XRS was the warranty offered by Vortex and Bushnell. If I have an issue, it will be fixed. And quickly. I'm pretty sure there's something wrong with my Zeiss (parallax/focus issue), so I may be finding out if zeiss backs their products soon enough. Like others have said, even (relatively) expensive scopes can have issues.
 
BigRobb said:
I’ll share in the spirit of getting back on topic.
I purchased a Razor AMG used from a vendor. Shortly after receiving it, it was noticed that there was some black dots on the inside of the ocular lense.
It was sent to Vortex and then sent to the USA because it was originally manufactured there. 3 weeks after sending it in, it was replaced under warranty. The note in the box said the rings had been over tightened, crushing the tube inside. This being an amg makes it a special case. I was happy with the whole process and outcome considering I paid for a used scope (damaged) and ended up with a brand new scope. Even after it had been destroyed by the previous owner. The vendor who sold it to me went good on the shipping but wasn’t interested in refunding...
In the end, it’s my favourite scope next to my TT. It’s been kept over S&B, Razor Gen2 and an ATACR.
Click to expand...

That's Vortex's standard line lol.

Someone on here mounted their Vortex scope with a very expensive calibrated torque driver and when that scope failed and was sent in for warranty, they claimed the rings had been over tightened.

I never even knew crushing scope tubes was a thing until Vortex came along. I kind of suspect their scope tubes have thinner walls than other manufacturers
 
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