Budget vs High-End LPVO: Monstrum vs Vortex Razor HD

[MoondogIndustries]

https://youtu.be/Nb3j6C0T5YU

SPOILER ALERT: The Vortex is the better glass. No surprise there. But it was surprising where the Panzer did better.

Monstrum asked to compare their new budget scope to a premium LPVO. They sent me a new Vortex Razor HD from Amazon (sadly it's a loaner so I'm shipping it back to them today). But this is the actual test I did, no favoritism in my footage. If I have any biased opinions at the end, it's my own, and probably favoring the Vortex. But honestly I don't like either scope. I prefer SFP LPVOs.

[tacticalcity]

1-10 is difficult for any brand to make well. Especially in first focal plane. The Razor has a lot of negative reviews. Well, not negative, just less than stellar. When you have that much magnification compromises come into play. Either the 1x suffers or the 10x suffers. At least when compared to scopes that made a choice between whether they would be lower power or higher power and do not try and be both. All that said, I thought the Razor did really well in this review. I was impressed. I am leaning towards making an SPR as my next rifle. If so, I will likely go for a 1-8 or 1-10 scope for it. Despite the compromises. For that role, the positives outweigh the negatives for me. I no longer get wholesale pricing on Vortex products. None of my suppliers carry them anymore. Not sure why. I get wholesale pricing on EoTech and Trijicon. The Razor has better reviews than EoTech's 1-10. But only slightly so. With the price difference the wholesale pricing gets me the EoTech is more attractive to me. That said Trijicon is about to drop their new 1-10. I am excited to see how well it performs. I was pleasantly surprised with how well my Trijicon Credo BDC SFP 1-6 performed. I think the reviewers who bashed the credo had a different model. Because mine is very much daylight bright, and crystal clear. I am hoping their 1-10 that is coming soon will be equally impressive.

[MoondogIndustries]

Fair points. The lack of a parallax focus makes LPVO severely compromised for distance shooting. The Vodu looks more attractive as does the the Nighforce NX8 but again, I'm I'm going to stick with a 1-6x SFP personally. It was still an interesting exercise.

[gunnybeard]

is there a reason you prefer a SFP over FFP? is it mainly just due to the difficulty of making them so you avoid anything "budget" for FFP? I've been tempted to try the panzer FFP but you have a good point when it comes to what your money will buy you relative to how difficult a product is to pull off. I've only ever used SFP scopes but the prices on these monstrums are really nice but i'd rather go SFP if it means getting a better quality optic overall compared to any "budget" FFP.

[smoothy8500]

Nice review. Like you I was surprised by the Chromatc Aberration (CA) in the Vortex Razor reviewed. Often there is some slight CA, but that loaner had a lot more than normal. I have a Steiner T5Xi as received from Camera Land had about the same amount of CA. I sent it back to Steiner under warranty and is was corrected.

[PatriotArt]

1. United StatesJapanChina: Vortex has a facility in China supervised by Japanese optics experts. They ensure consistent quality control, and specific rifle scope models like the Crossfire II, Diamondback, and Diamondback Tactical are manufactured there.
2. Philippines

[PatriotArt]

Been checking out reviews and videos on Monstrum and dang! Soooo, I ordered the Banshee 2-10x30 for an AR .556. The magnifiers looked good too, but didn't want to push it. Just in case lol... I will leave my opinion when it arrives.

[Munny$hot]

Monstrum quality of their mounts definitely hits above it's price point. That being said I have zero experience with any of their optics. I'd be interesting to see a long term use in a competition/3 Gun/training scenario to see how well it holds up. That being said for under 200 it may be worth the risk to find out. For now I'll hang onto my Razor

MoondogIndustries do you have any experience with Monstrums C1 day light bright reticle in the Banshee? I'm wondering if it's truly day light bright like the Razor

[Munny$hot]

One thing about your video where looking through the Gen3 Razor a telephone pole looked like it was offset in real life vs looking through the optic ie the fish eye effective. While this is true it only happens on the outer 1/3 of the glass which I thought had more to do with the fixed parallex of the Razor