My second bad optic.

[Idaho45guy]

Bought a Vortex Venom red dot sight to mount on my Henry rifle and was having a heck of a time getting it sighted in. Finally figured out that it was changing the POI on it's own and randomly every couple of shots or so.

Thought Vortex was an American company, but upon closer inspection, my sight was made in the Philippines.

The Nikon ProStaff I had for years started having issues a couple of months ago as well. Decades of no issues, now suddenly 2 quality optics going out within a couple of months.

Posted a video from the range...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcFe_mBe-34

[Lloyd Smale]

i dont bash brands of scopes to much. Dont care for bushnell because of the run around they gave me on fixing a busted one. But ive had about all of the brands go bad at one time or another. That said the only leupold ive had that went bad was one that the gun fell off my truck onto cement right on the scope and bent it. Good thing about vortex is they fix anything (usualy just replace it) no questions asked. They will even give you a shipping label if you get ahold of them. Bottom line is if its mechanical it can break.

[winelover]

You get what you pay for in optics............buy once, cry once. You want battle tested and and made in America, go the Trijicon route. Leupold is my second choice. Was told, years ago, by a LGS, to avoid Nikon..............he carried them. Guess he was right. They have now, out of the scope business.

Sure, I have cheaper optics but they are on plinkers. Won't trust my life to them. Vortex aren't bad, especially, when considering their warranty.

Winelover

[white eagle]

I have heard that buy once,cry once but I have never been fond of crying

[Burnt Fingers]

Vortex is an American company. They have their optics built in various places to meet a price point. They also have a lifetime no fault warranty.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

The more rounds you send downrange, the more likely you will have an optic fail. I have had several(a few,many) scopes fail, Leupold, Burris, Weaver, Bushnell. I have had 3 Leupolds fail, over 40 years, BUT I use Leupold more than any other. I have a couple Simmons that I have used for years on a Marlin .32 Special(4x-16x) and a 30-30(3x-9x), lot of rounds but light recoil, still good. I have used Nikons quite a bit without failure, have not tried Vortex. Think about NightForce but they are heavy. The newer scopes are more durable than older scopes and much less expensive for the same or better quality. A $50 Simmons from 2020 is a better scope than a $50 Weaver from 1963 when durability, optical clarity and precision adjustments are considered. What I miss are the light lower power scopes that are disappearing, nobody actually CARRIES a rifle while WALKING anymore. The old Weavers seemed great, but that was sight-in and shoot 5, maybe 10 Cor-Lokts a year on game shot at under 75 yards.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Send in a Vortex they replace , I have had no issues with mine , son in law had someone break his , Vortex replaced even though it was not a defect . Bad optics happen to all brands , Warranty that the company stands behind counts .

[AndyC]

Are you sure the optic is broken?

Reason I ask is because I used a similar optic about 10 years back and parallax was an issue - I was aiming at an object 400 yards away and if I moved my head on the stock of the rifle, the dot moved too. Try that little test.

[badguybuster]

I have a Vortex Venom on a 45-70 and its run perfectly. Everyone turns out a lemon once in a while. Ive had aimpoints break and they are supposed to be near indestructible

[Idaho45guy]

Are you sure the optic is broken?

Reason I ask is because I used a similar optic about 10 years back and parallax was an issue - I was aiming at an object 400 yards away and if I moved my head on the stock of the rifle, the dot moved too. Try that little test.

If you watched the video of me trying to sort it out, you would see that I was able to look through the mount rail and co-witness the factory open sights. With the Venom sighted to POA, the factory sights matched where the red dot was. Fire a couple of shots, then look through the factory sights and the red dot from the Venom is now a foot away compared to factory sights.

[tomme boy]

Vortex needs the lifetime warranty for a reason

[jonp]

Vortex is an American company but where they make the optics depends on the price range. They, from what I understand, back their stuff regardless of price.

[jonp]

You get what you pay for in optics............buy once, cry once. You want battle tested and and made in America, go the Trijicon route. Leupold is my second choice. Was told, years ago, by a LGS, to avoid Nikon..............he carried them. Guess he was right. They have now, out of the scope business.

Sure, I have cheaper optics but they are on plinkers. Won't trust my life to them. Vortex aren't bad, especially, when considering their warranty.

Winelover

What you say is true but I have never had a Nikon fail on me be it hunting or binocs on safari. Nikon got out of the scope business because the price point they were at was too crowded and the profit not worth the time. My "meat guns" all have Nikons. My 416 Ruger has Leopold only cause I couldn't find a Nikon but it has been flawless through a few hundred rounds so far.

[osteodoc08]

No brand bashing but I’ve found you get what you pay for, up to the point of diminishing return. That may change based on the opinion of the purchasing person.

I’ve had optics from Leupold, Burris, Tasco, Nikon, Bushnell and Vortex fail. Some more spectacular than others. The Leupold was ooooold and had fogged, Burris had the Mag ring stick and not return to the lowest setting, others a bit more obvious with cock eyed reticles, etc.

My “expensive” glass hasn’t failed me.......yet.

Lately I’ve leaned towards:
Leupold VX5/6 lines for my sporting rifles.
Trijicon, Vortex Razor G2/3 lines, Burris XTR and Bushnell Elite (made by LOW in Japan).
Older Bushnell Elite 3500/4500 low power glass for the other stuff.

[koger]

I had a Nikon 3x9 fail on a Muzzle loader recently, went every which way. First one I have ever had trouble with that brand. I read somewhere once, by a very knowledgeable gun scribe that" Every riflescope ever made, is in one stage of failure, whether it be the 10th round or the 1000th one, sooner or later, all riflescopes will fail, some brands just take longer." Makes sense to a point, I think

[JSnover]

I'd call it bad luck, coincidence, something like that; what's worse than a broken scope? TWO broken scopes.

[GhostHawk]

I guess I'm cheap. I'd rather shell out 60$ for a simmons scope in the configuration I am looking for.

And if I have to replace it in the first 5 years, well I can afford to do so.

I have bought NIB from Simmons, NIB from the pawn shop (half price or below)
I have yet to have one fail. Lose zero, or not adjust enough to get on target.
Good clear glass. Most of mine are 3x9x40 variables, 2 are 4x12. One is a 4x diamond shotgun scope which works great on my Ruger 10/22. Although it has not had much use of late.

All told 6 scopes, under 200$ total. Which is less than many spend on a single. And if you really need it to work, I can understand spending the $$$ for it.

But for my casual paper punching at 100 cheap works fine. YMMV

[Half Dog]

I’ve had a Vortex fail but it was painless to get it replaced.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I had a Simmons fail right off the get go and they fixed it no problem, had one on a 7mm mag and it never failed , held zero and the only issue was I had to shade the lens with a hat . Replaced it with one with higher magnification and it was reliable also .

[Petrol & Powder]

In the world of optics - YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

There's no way around that truth.

You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get a scope that's "good enough" but a $20 scope will be a $20 scope.

There are a few excellent European scopes but they tend to be pricey. For an American scope, Leupold is the only one I would consider.

The time, ammunition and MONEY expended screwing around with inferior optics just isn't worth it.

Buy the best quality bases and rings. Install them correctly. Bite the bullet - purchase a good quality scope, install it and never look back.

[higgins]

I have two 50+ year old steel tube El Paso Weavers that have never failed after many hundreds of shots on a .243 (K6) and .308 (K4) I don't change them very often, but adjustments are still spot on. The optics aren't up to newer scopes, but still good enough for my use.

[AndyC]

With the Venom sighted to POA, the factory sights matched where the red dot was. Fire a couple of shots, then look through the factory sights and the red dot from the Venom is now a foot away compared to factory sights.
Gotcha - I hadn't watched the video but from what you describe, it's busted.

Fortunately Vortex is good about taking care of their customers - I had a broken Sparc II replaced by them about a year ago.

[trebor44]

Having done more than a few physical to digital inventory setups. I noted the discrepancy between wholesale cost versus the retail price. When question as to why, the seller's response was that the higher prices gave the consumer a 'warm fuzzy' even though the product was not 'higher quality'. Marketing does win over common sense! My Realist scope has not failed after some 40 plus years.

[Idaho45guy]

I've never been a connoisseur of optics. I wear glasses and am legally blind without them, so anything that lets light through and is clear is good enough for me.

But last week when shooting my two .22 rifles side by side to determine which was the most accurate, I actually noticed a difference.

The Uberti had a Simmons "44 Magnum" 4x12x44 scope that I bought in 1998. I had mounted it on my first AR for coyotes. The Ruger 10/22 had a 3x9x40 Bushnell Banner that is a year or so old.

The Uberti turned out to be slightly more accurate, but the Bushnell scope was starkly superior in clarity to the Simmons. Even though the Simmons was a 4x12 and the Bushnell was a 3x9, I could see things easier at 100 yards with the Bushnell.