Vortex or Sightron?

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DANNY243

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I'm in the market for a good scope. My priorities are; warranty, ability to hold a zero, precise adjustments and clarity/brightness in that order. I'm looking to spend $200-300 and am interested in what you guys know about the vortex diamondback series and the sightron SI and SII series.

From what I have now Burris Fullfield II and Redfield are setting the bar on other rifles I own, but I'm still looking for the right scope.
 
If warranty comes above clarity and the ability to hold zero on your priority list, what are you planning to do, pound nails with the thing? :scrutiny:
 
I understand where Danny is coming from. If he is going to drop a significant amount of money on an optic, he wants a quality product and he wants customer service to back it up.

I have two Sightrons:
A SI 3-9x32 Rimfire and a SII Big Sky 3-9x42. Both of them are well built and have excellent tracking and solid clicks on the windage/elevation adjustments.

The SII BS is the best scope that I have. Optics are excellent and I like the Hunter Holdover Reticle.

With all that said, I have heard great things about Vortex and a Diamondback may be my next scope.

What size of scope are you considering and what power range?
 
I have a sightron S2 big sky. it's a 1.25 x 5 mounted on a flat-top AR. It's every bit as clear edge to edge as my leupold vx-3. positive clicks, and resettable zero. if you go with a sightron, you will not be disappointed.
 
Depending on the magnification you want, your price range would reach a Vortex Viper (higher end line than Diamondback) for a 2-7x32 or 3-9x40 scope.

I've been "this close" to buying a Viper 3-9x40 for two months now. Great reviews. However, for one rifle I bought a Weaver Grand Slam 3-10x40 mil/mil that Midway had on sale for $300 last month, and it is terrific.
 
I just pulled the trigger on the Vortex Crossfire 4-12X50 AO. I have read nothing but great things on the Vortex.
 
I recently got a Bushnell 4200 Elite 3-9x40 from Overstock.com for $219, delivered.I believe Opticsplanet had it for $299, and suggested retail is $399.
I don't think I've ever read a bad word on the Elite series, or their warranty service. They are magnum rated, have fully-multi-coated lenes, and a lifetime warranty ( that I can vouch for personally).
 
Quality should trump warranty. Plenty of cheap junk has a lifetime warranty. For example, the Heritage Rough Rider has a one year warranty, the Ruger Single Six has no warranty. Which is the better gun?
 
I have two Sightron SII 3x9-42 and a SII Big Sky 3X9-42 and a SII Big Sky 3.5x10-42. I bought all of them over the last year from closeouts at Midsouth Shooters Supply. I am extremely happy with all of these scopes, but I did not pay nearly what the normal asking price usually is. I probably would not pay what the normal asking price for the Big Sky scopes, but am happy that I have them. One of my SII scopes came with a slightly scratched elevation cap and I called them about it and they were very pleasent to me. I got two caps within a week.
 
Thanks for your input guys. You're absolutely right, I want the best possible warenty to back up a good quality scope. I have high standards for optics and if anything should go wrong at any time and for any reason I want to send it back no questions asked. Comparing quality/warenty of heritage to ruger is like comparing tasco to swarovski, thats a no brainer.

Right now I think the Vortex Diamindback 4-12x40 AO BDC Plex is at the top of my list. Vortex claims to have a lifetime transferable no questions asked warrenty while Sightron has lifetime transferable warranty on workmanship and materials. What If I scratch a lense or ding the tube? For the same price and comparable quality I want the one that will send me a new scope.

What dose anyone have to say about The Adjustable Objective on Vortex scopes? If its not worth the extra dough maybe I'll consider a Viper. I didn't mention it in this thread but the scope is going on a Rem 700 SPS 7mm08.
 
I have a SII 3.5x10-42 that I love. Its on my go to rifle and like it as well as any other scope I have ever owned. I also have a 3x9-50 on a critter getter that is well recieved by my Dad that has been shooting Leupold
 
Danny243, as soon as I get my hands on the scope, I will check it and let you know. Now, the crossfire is a "lower" model. But, if the glass is good, then I could only imagine that the "higher" model will be better.
 
I look at known long term reliability first which goes hand in hand with quality IMO. That said what I plan to do with the scoped rifle plays into my choice. I have a Pentax Pioneer's (same as the Burris FF-II) that I bought from Cameraland cheap ($80). They reside on rifles that I hunt varmints, hogs and whitetail with under relatively "easy" conditions and they have been fine. When I chase elk, bear, moose, the African critters and the the like I use my well proven Leupold's and nothing else, period. Never a problem in a lot of snow, rain, bumps and bruises. I have not played with any of the slew of newer manufacturer's scopes but I suspect I would have no problem with either a Vortex ot Sightron for my first listed application. Clearly, optical quality, repeatability, etc., all appear fine given what I read for about any of these suppliers scopes in the $200-300 range. They just have not been around long enough for me to take the chance on for my second application.
 
Red State said:
I understand where Danny is coming from. If he is going to drop a significant amount of money on an optic, he wants a quality product and he wants customer service to back it up.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm really sorry to tell you that $200-300 isn't a significant amount of money when talking about scopes, and that just because it says "lifetime warranty" on the box doesn't mean that they actually have customer service that's worth a rip. As far as quality, the low-end Vortexes are apparently Chinese-made and fairly shoddy; I don't know about Sightron, though I haven't heard fantastic things about their QC and haven't been at all impressed with their non-scope optics. It's probably a little telling that given a $200-300 budget, most serious guys would go for a Leupold or other established name; it's because they're a known quantity. If you really want to spend your three hundred bucks to lab-rat a random scope, then yeah, I guess you're going to want a warranty as your top priority. Of course, they're still going to want you to pay shipping at least one way, and it may take a month of phone and email tag to actually get an RMA authorization, and that "lifetime warranty" may only apply if you register the product within 30 days of purchase, but hey... :rolleyes:
 
Ok, I just took the Vortex outside and it is clear and crisp all the way out to 16, and looks great up close as well. Knobs feel secure and ocular adjustment is nice.
I will get out to the range on sunday and report back. it will be on an M1a Standard.
 
Let us know how it does, and if possible, pop back into the thread and give us a long-term update sometime after you've put a couple thousand rounds through the gun. "All these points of data make a beautiful line..."
 
So tactical ninja, what Leupold scope would you recomend in this price range? And don't tell me about the rifleman.
 
I am trying to contribute something productive, much as I would be if I were posting in a PGO shotgun thread. That your opinion happens to be at odds with mine doesn't render my comments useless; sorry.

If you'd like to go a bit further into why you're looking at these brands in particular (because if you think the big-name guys don't have scopes in your price range, or whatever) and what you're intending to use the scope for, smarter guys than I might be able to make some specific model suggestions that have worked for them.

I'm just trying to present an alternate point of view, to wit: why bother with comparatively unknown scopes when there are known quality models out there in the same price range?

FWIW, I have cheap, fixed-power Tascos and Bushnells on my few rifles that wear scopes. They're not Leupolds, but I don't take long enough shots to justify Leupolds and I'm never going to claim that they're on par with Leupolds. They also cost under $75, and if I were going to spend $300 on a replacement scope it would not be a Tasco or a Bushnell. Doesn't mean that they won't work; just that something else will work better for the same price.

You don't need to worry about warranty so much if you buy a known quality product in the first place. That's been my only point here.
 
I have owned a sightron in the past and I liked it but I am a Burris and Nikon guy now for the most part. I am going to try Vortex next as I hear really good things about them. Just my .02.
 
I'm with you, Leupold is a benchmark in the industry. I have a new Redfield that is fantastic. I think the only difference between it and the Rifleman is a 1 piece vs a 2 piece tube construction. So that is why I'm not intersted in the Rifleman. I have no experience with the VX I - VX III series, but that is getting into some pretty high dollar glass after the VX I. So from the research I've done Vortex has a very appealing warrenty which says a lot to me about their faith in their products, so I want to know what people have to say about them. They are not as well established as Leupold, Weaver or some other top companies but that is not to say that they are not as good. I'm open to suggestions.
 
The only thing to watch out for regarding warranties is the fine print. You may need to register the scope via website or mail within a certain timeframe from purchase date or the "lifetime" warranty turns into a 1-year warranty (popular with computer parts vendors!), they may require you to pay shipping one or both ways (which means that "free: replacement scope becomes a $40 replacement scope), and of course the old stall tactic: they may try to hide their contact info as well as possible, and they may or may not employ anyone whose job it is to take your warranty claims. I've dealt with a few lower-tier manufacturers (again, for PC components) who either took an obscene amount of time (over a month) to respond to warranty inquiries, or simply ignored them altogether until I got the BBB to contact them on my behalf.

Nikon, Bushnell and others should also have some decent product in your price range, but in the end it's your call, and I'm not going to tell you you made the wrong choice - most people would rather be snakebitten than run a Tasco, but the thing's been rock-solid for me for going on seven or eight years now, so that's all that matters. I just don't see much benefit in buying a scope for the warranty if the scope isn't very good in the first place - yeah, you get free replacements whenever they break, but in the meantime you're trying to look down a dim, blurry tube that won't hold a zero... :)

So, warranty is obviously a deciding factor, it just wouldn't be my first one.

Looking at OpticsPlanet just for a quick idea of what's out there, Leupold has a bunch of VX-I and a few FX/VX-IIs under $300, Nikon has a 2-8x Monarch, Bushnell has the 3-9x 4200 for $299 and a bunch of 3200s for cheaper, etc. If you hunt around I'm sure you can find better prices - OpticsPlanet is usually a bit on the high end in my experience.

ETA: Such as Amazon, which has that 3-9x 4200 for $250 shipped. Bushnell claims a lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship.
 
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