Vortex Razor UHD 18X56 Binos

Colorado Luckydog

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Minuteman
Oct 18, 2012
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I'm going on a hunt this year on a private ranch around Walden Colorado. It's a do it yourself hunt but it's still fairly expensive. I'm going to have a bull elk and a buck deer tag. I bought a Vortex Razor 27-60X85 spotting scope. I haven't had a lot of time using it yet. I was thinking I might should have gone with a powerful set of binos. I'm thinking about the Vortex Razor UHD 18X56. I truly believe glassing will be the key to this hunt. Especially for my buck. What do you guys think would be better for an inexperienced hunter in the glassing department. I'm not inexperienced hunter but I am when it comes to glassing. Should I try and get in a bunch of practice between now and second season with the spotting scope? Or should I get the binos? Please give me any input. And thank you for any help at all.!
 
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I am a Vortex dealer and have tried all of the UHD's. The 12x are my personal favorite. The 18's really need to be mounted on a tripod. They all have great glass for the price range. Most of the time I find my 10's to be enough and they probably get used the most next to my Fury's. They are all very durable and mine have taken a pretty good beating and have held up.
 
I’ve used swaro 10x32 el for about 10 years. They’ve worked well for tree stand white tail, to ground blind antelope, to spot/stalk elk, to dall sheep (rifle). I’ve not tried Vortex.
 
If you're going to be using off of a tripod, the UHD 18x56 is a fantastic piece of glass for the money and in general. If you're looking for something that you need to free-hand, then I would agree that the 12x50 would be the way to go. I'm actually a dealer as well and I've used pretty much everything out there at this point so if you have any more questions, or need any insight as all please don't hesitate to reach out. Happy to help any way I can.
 
If you're going to be using off of a tripod, the UHD 18x56 is a fantastic piece of glass for the money and in general. If you're looking for something that you need to free-hand, then I would agree that the 12x50 would be the way to go. I'm actually a dealer as well and I've used pretty much everything out there at this point so if you have any more questions, or need any insight as all please don't hesitate to reach out. Happy to help any way I can.
I have a pair Leupold 10X42's and a pair of Monarch 12X42's. This set will be replacing the spotting scope because I just don't do well with the spotting scope. It doesn't work for me. I will definitely be using a tripod or monopod at the very least.
 
Will you be using them in combination with another set of binos? Imo something in the 8-12 range (preferably 8-10) is a most for just about any hunting. I don’t currently have a spotting scope, though I’ve used one plenty. I have a pair of 15x binos I bring when the situation calls for it, and personally prefer that to binos and spotter.

A big difference will be that it is easier to spot game with binos, but generally much easier to judge them with a spotter.
 
I hunt with sig kilo 3000s and Razor 18x UHDs. I wouldn't use the razors without a tripod, but they do work very well for finding game. I would echo HaydenLane on his comment about binos being easier to find game and a spotter being easier to judge. For me, I don't really trophy hunt, so they work great for me. If I was trophy hunting and looking at a mule deer buck greater than a mile away that was borderline, I would need a spotting scope. The mule deer buck I shot this year I spotted about 2500 yards away with the 18x razors, and I walked to him and shot him. I could tell he had antlers and a decent rack from 2500 yards, but I couldn't get a good judge on him. I did find an elk this year at about 2 miles away, and I could tell he was a good bull from that distance. My buddy with a swaro spotter could tell he was 6x6, and I could not.
 
If you go 18x binos, a couple of years ago I tested the Razor UHD 18x vs the Maven B5 18x56. I liked the Mavens better, and they have a demo program to try them out.

I bought neither and settled on a pair of Leica Geovid 15x LRF binos. They fulfilled two needs in one. Don’t let anyone tell you they are second class optics, they are very good.