VortexOptics Vulture HD Binoculars

Nice binoculars. Solid, heavy. VERY heavy. For the added FOV over a 10x42 I'm not sure the 10x56 is worth its weight (literally!).My previous birding bino's are Leupold Wind River Cascades 10x42. Very nice, and really withstanding the test of time, but I found when I went out with others that I was spending a lot of time sharing the binos around. The FOV advantage sounded appealing, all the talk of improved light gathering sounded appealing, so I decided to upgrade and make these Vultures my new primary bino and the old 10x42s my "loaners".I heard a lot of great things about Vortex so checked them out at a brick-and-mortar hunting gear place and ordered these on Amazon.So, as mentioned; heavy! According to my kitchen scale over a pound heavier (a fraction of an ounce under 1.5 pounds vs a fraction over 2.5 pounds, so 66% heavier!).FOV is greater than 10x42, but in actual practice I don't find that it makes that much difference.Light gathering; not as dramatic as I had thought it would be. I could not tell a significant difference, although I don't do much low light viewing so YMMV.My biggest gripe: Fit and finish. One of the eye cups has a noticeably "stiffer" range of extension, but no big deal. The diopter adjustment is non-locking (as opposed to my old Leopold Wind Rivers) and tends to catch on and move with the focus knob (each way!!), and, most unforgivably, the two barrels do not seem to be truly in-line.The diopter issue was my first concern. Once the diopter was adjusted it just seemed to keep coming out of adjustment. I finally noticed that as the focus knob was adjusted it would catch slightly on the diopter adjustment knob and move it slightly each time the focus was moved. I figured out that if I pried on the the gap between the diopter adjustment and the focus knob to separate them that this wouldn't happen anymore, but the process had to be periodically repeated. Also, the diopter adjust knob is "forward" of the focus knob, so could be easily confused when you're trying to adjust focus while looking through the binos and not at the knobs.The biggest issue for me; each time I got the diopter finally adjusted and focused in and spent time checking out a subject, once I pulled off the binos I would have a mini-vertigo episode. As if you tried on the prescription glasses of a friend and your eyes adjusted to the point where you felt you could actually see okay, but when you took the glasses off there was a period of re-adjustment where your eyes came back to their normal focus. Very unpleasant, and I'm sure that spending extended periods making your eyes adjust for bino misalignment is not good for them.Next step; review of the vaunted Vortex guarantee.EDIT: (My aplogies to Vortex for taking so long!)So I had put the binos in a closet after my initial review and must admit I kind of forgot about them for about a year. Came across them one day and decided to send them in. Very impressed by the service! Got them back very quickly; so quickly it seems hard to believe they actually repaired and returned my original binos in that time. My guess is that the "returned" binos were either new or refurbs. Either way, they were in good-as-new condition so no complaints whatever the case.- The barrel misalignment after the service return seems to be completely gone.- The diopter adjustment knob no longer catches on the focus knob.The only less than perfect issue, albeit a minor one, is that I can't get perfect focus on both eyes. It is subtle and easy to live with, but no matter how much I fuss with the diopter there is not a perfect match. I.e., as I roll the focus knob back and forth there is a point where one eye is perfect, then where the other is perfect, but never both are perfect.Oh, well; if I want perfect I guess I'll need to fork out a grand or two. For what these cost I'll say that they are a nice set of binos and a very good value.

Outstanding set of glass for the money. Probably the best value I’ve come across to date. I spend a lot of time glassing. These replaced the need for a spotting scope when hunting mule deer out west. Ironically enough I think that these are probably the best value that vortex has to offer. I’ve looked through razor HD’s for many hours and they actually have less edge to edge clarity than these Vultures at twice the price. I repeat the edge to edge clarity and chromatic aberration is far superior in these $500 vultures than the $1200 razor HD series. These are not Swaro’s or Zeus’s but I can tell you that Swaros are not five times better than these.... they might be twice as good as these but they’re five times the price. Unless you have money falling out of your pockets I think you would be crazy not to buy these or pay a premium for the Kaibabs. Just an outstanding set of glass for the money. These replaced the need for a spotting scope when hunting mule deer out west. Ironically enough I think that these are probably the best value that vortex has to offer. I’ve looked through razor HD‘s for many hours and they actually have less edge to edge clarity than these vultures at twice the price. The edge to edge clarity is outstanding in these and I’m seeing minimal chromatic aberration. These are not Swaro’s but I can tell you that swaros are not five times better than these they might be twice as good as these but they’re five times the price. Unless you have money falling out of your pockets youd be doing yourself a disservice by not trying these first or even paying extra for the Kaibabs. Vortex seems to be marketing low end glass to the people that just want the logo because they’ve seen them on meat eater, and they seem to be marketing hign end priced glass like the razorHD series to people that want the logo and have seen the gear on meat eater, the sweet spot with this company is going to be mid range optics like this where the value is tremendous and you still get the warranty. These are as good as any $1200 set a razor HDs or Kaibabs and you’re not paying the premium .

These are spectacular, every bit as good as any brand out there for clarity, durability, waterproofness. With the great Vortex lifetime guarantee can not go wrong!