Vortex Scopes
 

I've been a Leupy, Nikon, Zeiss Conquest guy for years. I believe the $300 - $600 range for scopes is where I find the most value. Good clear glass, accurate adjustments, plenty bright, lots of reticle choices. When I buy a scope, it goes on a rifle and stays there until I have issues. With optics I like to "buy it once" knowing that if I have issues now or years down the road it'll be covered. Over the past couple of years, I keep hearing about Vortex but have kept away mainly due to longevity. Can some of you guys give me real world info on the Vortex line? How does their comparable lines stack up to VX2 and 3, Monarch and Conquest? What about the warranty and customer service?

I have zero first and experience with the Vortex line, however one of my hunting buddies put a high end Vortex on his Contender. He loves the scope.

I can give an opinion on the Conquest, Leupold Vari-X III and Monarch. My preference is in that order with the Monarch far behind .... the MSRP of the Monarch in the vintage that I had just did not match up with my experience. Lw lihgt performance was disappointing.

To be fair both the 2- Vari X-III's and 2-Monarch's were bought several years back. The Monarch's may be much better now.

I am a big fan of the Conquest as far as value.

I have a Vortex Viper 2-7X and love it. It is a solid scope. I have heard from others that customer service is first rate, but I have never had an issue with mine to find out. I don't know about the Monarch and the Conquest seems to be a solid scope. I have an old Leupy Vari-X III 4.5-14X 40 mm that I bought nearly twenty years ago that is still giving me good service. Again, no issue, so I have never had to test the customer service.

I have heard that the Vortex is American made! Any truth to that!

I could have pretty much posted the same thing as Grizzly, but mines a Viper 3-9 and the only other scopes I have experience with are Nikons. I'm happy with the Viper line (also have a spotter), but I think my price point is a step below yours.

I like any "no questions asked" warranty.

My questions is; How long have they been around ?

All imported from various factories in Asia by a US company.

100% correct.

Yep, my main concern. Many offer lifetime warranties but then are out of business or bought by someone that won't honor the warranty.

Pretty much why you see me Recommending Leupold, Nikon, Weaver and Zeiss when it comes to budget quality optics. I recommend Minox too only because $179 bucks is not a lot to spend on a good scope and if you get 10 years out of it and the company goes tits up and you can't get it serviced...well you probably got your $179 bucks out of it. I probably would not buy a Minox $500 scope for the Warranty issues at hand.

I will throw Redfield in there as a good budget optic now that they are owned by Leupold. Redfield is a good example of how things can turn in this industry. They were in business dating back to 1909. Now days if you have a Redfield scope made before 2010 it has no Warranty. You have to go to Ironsight and they will repair the scope for a modest fee of $85 to $105. Wow for that sort of money you can buy a pretty nice Weaver Nitrex One.

Then there is another argument to made. With the advances in lens coatings and advances in scope technology a scope made today 10 to 15 years from now will really sort of be outdated and overshadowed by its predecessors. I look at some of the outstanding optics I have that I purchased 10-15 years ago in the $500-$1200 dollar range and compare it to some of the $200-$400 optics today with the modern multi coatings and really scratch my head.