Vortex Razor HD Gen III 6-36x56

[jb1000br]

Starting a new thread since the other one got quite messy with a lot of assumptions

Here was my at-home vid. I got a bit of time behind it and the glass is better than I expected thus far. The turret design is one of the best out there...and at least it is a little bit lighter than the Gen 2

We should have them available to ship any day!



MOA VERSION

MIL VERSION

Euro vid by Derek - he took one out on a 50 cal!

 

[RickyRodney]

Anything to say about how this compares to the 7-35 ATCAR?

 

[Badjujuu]

That's awesome, I'm glad they changed the reticle a bit

 

[jb1000br]

I have not been able to put it beside one at this point. Weather has been miserable...hunting season...Christmas...and you know...not much daylight...and when it is daylight, it has been raining or super overcast and dark . The resolution at full mag was better than I expected though...but nothing comparative thus far

 

[babyguppy]

well, gen III 36X weight is 45.1 ounces vs Gen II 27X 48.5 ounces ; so yea, a little bit lighter. LOL 3.4 ounces (probably the 6 allen heads on the turrets)
Nightforce ATACR 35X is 39.3 ounces = price point of Mil-XT 3600 dollars
Gen III glass coating XRPlus Fully Multi-Coated vs Gen II of XR Fully Multi-Coated

My question, when looking through the glass, how's the clarity. figure Gen III is 3,000 dollars vs similar Nightforce of 3,600.
Gen III center dot = .1 MOA .03 MRAD
Gen II open center = .06 MRAD
Nightforce center dot = .05 MRAD
The center dot on the Gen III in my opinion might be a bit large on farther targets on full power. I think the .03 excites me.
Gen III improvement from video; you don't have to pull off the turrets each time you want to adjust your zero (that was a pain). It also appears you still get the 'fine' tune zero as in the Gen II without the hassle.

And, thank gosh, Vortex moved the windage numbers on the Gen III reticle to the far right, they were in the way on my Gen II
Edit - in my opinion; for the $$, the Gen II 27X is damn hard to beat; kinda excited for the Gen III
EditX2 - thanks badger.. I edited above
Gen II Gen II mil link
Gen III Gen III MIL link grabbed from badger
Gen III MOA Gen III MOA
Nightforce Mil XT - ATACR optic link

 

[babyguppy]

I have not been able to put it beside one at this point. Weather has been miserable...hunting season...Christmas...and you know...not much daylight...and when it is daylight, it has been raining or super overcast and dark . The resolution at full mag was better than I expected though...but nothing comparative thus far

send one to me Jason, I'll slap it next to the ATACR you sold me for a side by side comparison. I'll take it to the range and people can look through both, so we have an old eyes and young eyes comparison.

 

[badgerfan]

well, gen III 36X weight is 45.1 ounces vs Gen II 27X 48.5 ounces ; so yea, a little bit lighter. LOL 3.4 ounces (probably the 6 allen heads on the turrets)
Nightforce ATACR 35X is 39.3 ounces = price point of Mil-XT 3600 dollars
Gen III glass coating XRPlus Fully Multi-Coated vs Gen II of XR Fully Multi-Coated

My question, when looking through the glass, how's the clarity. figure Gen III is 3,000 dollars vs similar Nightforce of 3,600.
Gen III center dot = .1
Gen II open center = .06
Nightforce center dot = .05
The center dot on the Gen III in my opinion might be a bit large on farther targets on full power.
Gen III improvement from video; you don't have to pull off the turrets each time you want to adjust your zero (that was a pain). It also appears you still get the 'fine' tune zero as in the Gen II without the hassle.

And, thank gosh, Vortex moved the windage numbers on the Gen III reticle to the far right, they were in the way on my Gen II
Edit - in my opinion; for the $$, the Gen II 27X is damn hard to beat; kinda excited for the Gen III

I think you were looking at the MOA reticle when you listed the center dot size, the MRAD version is 0.03 on the center dot https://vortexoptics.com/media/.renditions/wysiwyg/VTX_RZR-63602_EBR-7D_MRAD_RS_I_RI_ST.jpg

 

[jda2631]

My 2 cents is this is a direct competitor to the ATACR 7-35. So will come down to: are they fairly equal scopes with vortex being $600 less, or is the nightforce a better scope and just comes down to if its $600 better to the buyer? On paper they are extremely similar.

@jb1000br do you have any time behind the ATACR 7-35? Any preliminary thoughts comparing the 2?

 

[Safety_3rd]

Shipping dates?

 

[jb1000br]

My 2 cents is this is a direct competitor to the ATACR 7-35. So will come down to: are they fairly equal scopes with vortex being $600 less, or is the nightforce a better scope and just comes down to if its $600 better to the buyer? On paper they are extremely similar.

@jb1000br do you have any time behind the ATACR 7-35? Any preliminary thoughts comparing the 2?

my time was on a pre-pro version...resolution was good all the way up...light noticeably reduced after 25x...same initial feeling with the 6-36.

 

[jb1000br]

Shipping dates?

Theoretically they are in our warehouse now...but waiting on confirm - so we should be shipping out any day

 

[jb1000br]

UPDATE on shipping - should be in the warehouse early NEXT WEEK...so would be shipping out of here next week

 

[Ash$$]

UPDATE on shipping - should be in the warehouse early NEXT WEEK...so would be shipping out of here next week

Thanks Jason! I just put my order in. Stoked!!

 

[rlsmith1]

So no tooless zero reset?

 

[jb1000br]

So no tooless zero reset?

Nope...but the closest thing to it:

 

[jb1000br]

Thanks Jason! I just put my order in. Stoked!!

you ordered thru my links right?

 

[rlsmith1]

The slickest alternative for sure

 

[AleksanderSuave]

goddamn. Time to start an onlyfans to pay for my hobby.

 

[Mudflap621]

goddamn. Time to start an onlyfans to pay for my hobby.

Funny thing is some sick fuck would pay you.

 

[AleksanderSuave]

Funny thing is some sick fuck would pay you.

Im gonna bring on some rightfully earned clowning by admitting to this, but back when I was in college, some guy approached me at the gym with the premise of paying me for my used underwear.

Me being pretty broke then, living in east detroit in a house that didnt even have a kitchen, while going to school full time, working a day job, and working security as a second job on the weekends at a filthy ass drug and alcohol testing lab, made me take a few seconds of thinking before I told him to get the hell out of my face.

 

[GenericBadGuy]

Oh baby, but daaamn that $3,000+tax price tag got me like what else could I buy in that price range...

 

[Tokay444]

Does it come in any other colours but poo?

 

[JaoeyP]

Starting a new thread since the other one got quite messy with a lot of assumptions

Here was my at-home vid. I got a bit of time behind it and the glass is better than I expected thus far. The turret design is one of the best out there...and at least it is a little bit lighter than the Gen 2

We should have them available to ship any day!



MOA VERSION

MIL VERSION

Euro vid by Derek - he took one out on a 50 cal!

Jason-
Does the scope have more than 2 revolutions available when using zero stop? Assuming there is internal elevation available. Some scopes for example may have 30 mils internal elevation BUT once zero stop is used there are only 2 revs available.

 

[GrumpyOleFart]

Nice.

 

[Kiba]

Jason-
Does the scope have more than 2 revolutions available when using zero stop? Assuming there is internal elevation available. Some scopes for example may have 30 mils internal elevation BUT once zero stop is used there are only 2 revs available.

Instructions show the turn indicator can indicate up to 3 turns on the turret, so it shouldn't artificially limit your elevation travel like some other double turn only turrets that stop at the end of the second turn even though there's still additional erector travel.

Edit: the text above the pictures says it will indicate up to 4 turns, while the text below the pictures says it will indicate up to 3 turns. Based on the alternating white and black bands on the rotation indicator pin, it appears it will indicate up to 4 turns which covers the entire available elevation travel range.

Maybe Jason can clarify.

 

[VSP968]

Dammit @jb1000br, I just bought a demo 35X ATACR from you guys….I really liked my Razor but wanted a bit more mag.

 

[longshot2000]

I am sure the glass will be clear, and a great scope, but you just cannot compare Nightforce durability to Razor. We are starting to carry Razor and initial testing is better than the Gen II long range scopes, which had a propensity to be hit or miss on construction. Not sure why. LPVO Razors have been solid, but 28x not as good. Early indications are Gen III is pretty solid.

I think it comes down to 1) do you need military grade durability and 2) which reticle appeals to you. Personal ally, I find the EBR to be a bit thick, but reticles are personal.

Also, worth looking at in the $3k to $4k price range for ELR scopes is ZCO.

 

[RickyRodney]

I am sure the glass will be clear, and a great scope, but you just cannot compare Nightforce durability to Razor. We are starting to carry Razor and initial testing is better than the Gen II long range scopes, which had a propensity to be hit or miss on construction. Not sure why. LPVO Razors have been solid, but 28x not as good. Early indications are Gen III is pretty solid.

I think it comes down to 1) do you need military grade durability and 2) which reticle appeals to you. Personal ally, I find the EBR to be a bit thick, but reticles are personal.

Also, worth looking at in the $3k to $4k price range for ELR scopes is ZCO.

I figured the higher mag Gen II's would as durable as the LPVO but interesting that is not true. When the King of SH, did the tracking test the Razor's had near perfect tracking of all the high end optics, something else to consider.

Scope Tracking Test Results 2020

Follow Sniper's Hide and pick up the latest information on all things precision rifle related. Sniper's Hide Training is for the serious tactical marksman.

www.snipershide.com

 

[Tx_Aggie]

I figured the higher mag Gen II's would as durable as the LPVO but interesting that is not true. When the King of SH, did the tracking test the Razor's had near perfect tracking of all the high end optics, something else to consider.

Scope Tracking Test Results 2020

Follow Sniper's Hide and pick up the latest information on all things precision rifle related. Sniper's Hide Training is for the serious tactical marksman.

www.snipershide.com

FWIW, Longshot is the first person I’ve heard claiming to have seen a durability issue in the Gen 2 Razor. Or saying they have a reputation for being hit or miss in terms of initial construction.

As much as guys like to rag on Razors around here, if either of those things were commonplace you’d expect to never hear the end of it.

 

[TrevK]

The gen 2 razors did a pretty great job on the tracking test if memory serves.

 

[rijndael]

The gen 2 razors did a pretty great job on the tracking test if memory serves.

11 out of 12 were 100%, the last one was 99.8%.

 

[babyguppy]

Im gonna bring on some rightfully earned clowning by admitting to this, but back when I was in college, some guy approached me at the gym with the premise of paying me for my used underwear.

Me being pretty broke then, living in east detroit in a house that didnt even have a kitchen, while going to school full time, working a day job, and working security as a second job on the weekends at a filthy ass drug and alcohol testing lab, made me take a few seconds of thinking before I told him to get the hell out of my face.

ok,, here comes the ribbing... You were just embarrassed, knowing, someone had a pair of your favorite 'juicy' underwear.

 

[babyguppy]

11 out of 12 were 100%, the last one was 99.8%.

Been playing with my Gen II HD X27 for 3 years, 1,500 rounds on a 300 win mag, tracks like a train on a rail.. or is it a hooker on a rail.. either way..

 

[5RWill]

FWIW, Longshot is the first person I’ve heard claiming to have seen a durability issue in the Gen 2 Razor. Or saying they have a reputation for being hit or miss in terms of initial construction.

As much as guys like to rag on Razors around here, if either of those things were commonplace you’d expect to never hear the end of it.

I've said this for some time, but people seem to forget the sheer amount of razors that are out there compared to the competition. People forget that the Gen II had a hold on the competitive market before PRS was even really established. They came out with an optic that had the majority of the features competition shooters desired at nearly $500-1200 under the competition, while NF was still being stagnant with the Mil-R, Leupold was resting on their laurels with gov't contracts, S&B was pricing themselves out of competition, USO was dying, ZCO wasn't around, people had never even heard of the ZP5, Arken, Burris XTR, Athlon, Bushnell (ED glass) didn't exist, etc. I could go on. I've seen I think 2 Gen IIs in person go down in 8 years? The Gen II 1-6 was/is used in the SF community for years. My point is Vortex seems to catch a bad reputation in regards to reliability that IMHO is woefully undeserved especially of their flagship products.

 

[babyguppy]

Dammit @jb1000br, I just bought a demo 35X ATACR from you guys….I really liked my Razor but wanted a bit more mag.

View attachment 7778172

what scope mount are you using?

 

[MackDaddy1962]

what scope mount are you using?

Looks like he's got the NF sitting on a Badger Ordnance scope setup rig. I want one of those...

 

[Glassaholic]

Similar to Jason I have had external issues hindering me from getting more time behind my 6-36x56, what I can say is it shows a lot of promise for the little bit I've had time to play with it. I'll be doing some full resolution testing here soon, but all my extra mounts and rings are still packed up in bins somewhere in the menagerie that my garage has become, I just ordered a new ARC M-Brace and hopefully that will get here soon and I can get it side by side with some other alpha class scopes and see how they compare.

Early thoughts -

• Illumination at 10 is daylight bright, I can see illuminated reticle during bright daylight sun on anything but a bright background. This is a big plus especially for competitors who find targets in contrasty or shadowy areas and have difficulty picking up the reticle.
• Turrets are stiff but not too stiff, even if left unlocked I don't see these getting bumped out of alignment, locking mechanism is easy to lift up and push down about the same feeling as ZCO.
• Parallax stiff but not too stiff, unless you really bang this on something I don't see it moving much but easy to adjust when necessary
• Mag ring is just where I like it, very good response and the throw between 6x and 36x is short, I can spin it without having to reset my grip.
• The new L-TEC+ is a good improvement over L-TEC - you loosen one hex nut and then spin the elev or windage plate on top of the turrets (which have a bump out you can grab with finger and thumb) to zero - once set, you simply tighten the single hex nut finger tight and you're done. This design will be really handy for switch barrel rigs.
• I do wish more manufacturers would think outside the box with regard to the hex key, Kahles has the best idea to date hiding it under the battery cover, wish more companies would do something like this as I hate digging around trying to find the right size - or worse, forgetting the right size when I head to the range.
• Whoever designed the engraving on the turrets was young, meaning they don't suffer from presbyopia and think anybody can see small numbers, there is plenty of room on the turret for them to put large numbers like ZCO and NF and wish Vortex would have done that to help those of us with older eyes.
• Glass - probably what most are mostly interested in, given the price they want to know if this scope can keep up with other alpha class scopes. I'll need more time behind it for sure, but early testing shows good promise, I could not induce any CA with high contrast objects during preliminary testing.

 

[Franko]

Similar to Jason I have had external issues hindering me from getting more time behind my 6-36x56, what I can say is it shows a lot of promise for the little bit I've had time to play with it. I'll be doing some full resolution testing here soon, but all my extra mounts and rings are still packed up in bins somewhere in the menagerie that my garage has become, I just ordered a new ARC M-Brace and hopefully that will get here soon and I can get it side by side with some other alpha class scopes and see how they compare.

Early thoughts -

• Illumination at 10 is daylight bright, I can see illuminated reticle during bright daylight sun on anything but a bright background. This is a big plus especially for competitors who find targets in contrasty or shadowy areas and have difficulty picking up the reticle.
• Turrets are stiff but not too stiff, even if left unlocked I don't see these getting bumped out of alignment, locking mechanism is easy to lift up and push down about the same feeling as ZCO.
• Parallax stiff but not too stiff, unless you really bang this on something I don't see it moving much but easy to adjust when necessary
• Mag ring is just where I like it, very good response and the throw between 6x and 36x is short, I can spin it without having to reset my grip.
• The new L-TEC+ is a good improvement over L-TEC - you loosen one hex nut and then spin the elev or windage plate on top of the turrets (which have a bump out you can grab with finger and thumb) to zero - once set, you simply tighten the single hex nut finger tight and you're done. This design will be really handy for switch barrel rigs.
• I do wish more manufacturers would think outside the box with regard to the hex key, Kahles has the best idea to date hiding it under the battery cover, wish more companies would do something like this as I hate digging around trying to find the right size - or worse, forgetting the right size when I head to the range.
• Whoever designed the engraving on the turrets was young, meaning they don't suffer from presbyopia and think anybody can see small numbers, there is plenty of room on the turret for them to put large numbers like ZCO and NF and wish Vortex would have done that to help those of us with older eyes.
• Glass - probably what most are mostly interested in, given the price they want to know if this scope can keep up with other alpha class scopes. I'll need more time behind it for sure, but early testing shows good promise, I could not induce any CA with high contrast objects during preliminary testing.

This plus Koshkin's preliminary review just pushed me over the edge. Going to buy one for a fancy 22LR.

Thanks for this and all the other reviews you do.

 

[Rob01]

For anyone wanting to compare the EBR-7D to the NF Mil XT or ZCO MPCT3 or TT Gen 3 XR or JTAC or Kahles SKMR4 just to get an idea of dimensions.

 

[Mudflap621]

Please stop I dunno how to hide this from the wife….

 

[kindabitey]

Please stop I dunno how to hide this from the wife….

Prepaid CC, ship to work or trustworthy associate.

 

[AleksanderSuave]

Please stop I dunno how to hide this from the wife….

Ship to me, I'll invoice you from my newly minted onlyfans account, then ship it to you wrapped in a pair of used underwear.

only charge 4% for this service.

 

[AK74U]

Any chance these will be offered with the Cadex Tremor promo EO has going?

 

[TheBigCountry]

Curios how this stacks up against the new Bushnell XRS3 and DMR3?

 

[BisSilent]

Starting a new thread since the other one got quite messy with a lot of assumptions

Here was my at-home vid. I got a bit of time behind it and the glass is better than I expected thus far. The turret design is one of the best out there...and at least it is a little bit lighter than the Gen 2

We should have them available to ship any day!



MOA VERSION

MIL VERSION

Euro vid by Derek - he took one out on a 50 cal!

Got one ordered yesterday!!!

 

[tsovern]

Curios how this stacks up against the new Bushnell XRS3 and DMR3?

Im not sure the XRS3 competes w even the g2. After 2 weeks w mine , Im still trying to figure out were the money saved on illumination and shitty turrents went.

 

[GrumpyOleFart]

Given my Razor II's and HD a thrashing.
They are all sound.
Very interested to see how the new Razor 3 goes.

 

[HousePlant]

Waiting for Gen2s to be sold at ridiculously high used prices, as per usual... because "forever warranty".

 

[Hollywood 6mm]

Im not sure the XRS3 competes w even the g2. After 2 weeks w mine , Im still trying to figure out were the money saved on illumination and shitty turrents went.

My eyeballs told a completely different story. However, every set of eyeballs are different.

 

[TheBigCountry]

Im not sure the XRS3 competes w even the g2. After 2 weeks w mine , Im still trying to figure out were the money saved on illumination and shitty turrents went.

That’s not very promising….