Happy vector x embargo date.
I have some more information about these to share as well as their preliminary spec sheets. Frank and I have been in contact with
@Philip_at_Vectronix about this product and I will be doing a review of it later this year along the lines of the
Leica Geovid pro and
Sig 10k reviews a couple years ago.
The first thing to strike me about the Vector X's is that they will be competitive with the 10k's in maximum range. I had mentioned in the
EDC podcast on electro-optics that me and Frank did a while back that there would be more such rangefinders following the 10k's and this is the first of those. Though the spec sheet lists the Vector X's as having a max range of 7k yds and not 10k yds, that max range is not a memory hard stop such as 3k meters appears to be on the Leica Geovid Pro's. The Vectors can return ranges further than that and I have been told they will match or perhaps slightly exceed the 10k's.
The second thing to strike me was the value of the Vector X's in the dual role of spotter / field binos. With the screw on "range enhancers" each of these models is boosted to 1.4x it's original magnification. This puts them squarely in spotter magnification range and, with the aid of the tripod adapter RRS is making and the dual reticle option (the left reticle is calibrated for base magnification and the right one for magnification with range enhancers) the Vector X's should make a magnificent spotting scope replacement. I understand most match guys are already using high powered binos in this role anyway. How much better to have the LRF and ballistic solution baked into that, especially in team matches. This struck me as a huge winning feature. Of course, without adding these things, the Vector X should perform quite well in a hunting role.
The next feature to strike me is that these Vector X's are supposed to have very good glass. Good enough that they are planning to also release a model that is just binoculars without the laser rangefinder that they are calling the Radical X. Somebody must have let Elon Musk in the product naming room. Good optical performance is a big win for both the spotter replacement and field glass roles and I am excited to test them out to see how they do optically.
The interface of the Vector X's interestes me. Most LRF binos have just two buttons which makes it pretty cumbersome to navigate menues. Even more so if the display is just a segmented LED with a bunch of weird acronyms you will never remeber. The Vector X's have a full D pad in addition to a ranging button for a total of 6 buttons to use in conjunction with a full AMOLED screen. It should be a dream to navigate menues and the D pad buttons also have shortcuts attached to them when not in the menue system for even quicker use on the clock. The interface of these binos seems to have been very carefully designed for the match shooter and I am looking forward to trying it out. I am also looking forward to trying out Vectronix applied ballistics app integration. I found the Sig version a bit clunky for non BDX system use and am hoping the Vectronix flavor will be an excellent UI.
I should also mention that these Vector X binos will be ready for integration with Calipso wind meters. I understand this will be ready at time of launch. I'm pretty stoked to try this out.
Lastly, the Vector X has a lot of choices in device integration. You can even leave the AB ecosystem if you want and do 4DOF or Trasol. You can also integrate the Vector X's with a lot of other devices such as garmin watches, the DRS gun mounted display, Kestrels, and the affor mentioned AB Calipso wind meter.
www.vectronix-shooting-solutions.com
