Vortex diamondback spotter

Knight.54 · Mar 25, 2018

I know the golden rule in optics, you get what you pay for.
That being said I’ve got swaro Binos and Leupold and Zeiss riflescopes that I love.
Now I’m in the market for a spotting scope.
I’ve never owned a vortex product but their warranty looks great, and I love a great warranty. I can’t swallow dropping two grand on a spotting scope. I’ve been pretty successful on plenty of hunts without one.
So I’m considering the 60 mm diamondback spotter— anybody have strong feelings or opinions about it?
I’d love some input because I know a lot of you western fellas have spent tons more time looking through the long glass than me. Any input is appreciated

mtmuley · Mar 25, 2018

Swallow the $2000 and get a Swaro or equivalent. Or a Leupold. I didn't, got a Vortex and it sucks. mtmuley

MN Public Hunter · Mar 25, 2018

mtmuley said:
Swallow the $2000 and get a Swaro or equivalent. Or a Leupold. I didn't, got a Vortex and it sucks. mtmuley

Hilarious comment....Do yourself a favor , go to the store and look through as many as you can inside/outside and if you can try them around dusk that would help you decide as well. There are many scopes that do not cost $2000 that are more than enough for 1-2 weeks use a year and that's even assuming you actually use it.

schmalts · Mar 25, 2018

I looked through a diamondback, it was not nearly what I would expect for the $$

mtmuley · Mar 25, 2018

MN Public Hunter said:
Hilarious comment....Do yourself a favor , go to the store and look through as many as you can inside/outside and if you can try them around dusk that would help you decide as well. There are many scopes that do not cost $2000 that are more than enough for 1-2 weeks use a year and that's even assuming you actually use it.

Why is this hilarious? mtmuley

Knight.54 · Mar 25, 2018

Nope just the kind of honesty I wanted. My problem is I have looked through the swaro, so I know. I look at very few things I’ve bought as being worth their price and holding that status for a long time. My 42mm swaro Binos are just such a thing.
I have a buddy who guides in AK. He keeps telling me when one of his clients tips him with a brand new swaro spotter he’ll give me a deal on his. I’m just tired of waiting! Also his is an 85mm and I want a 60-65.
I guess I’ll have to sell a benelli ... and maybe a truck&#55357;&#56846;

406LIFE · Mar 25, 2018

I have one, and for the price, I don't think there is an equal. It is not a $2000 piece of glass, that's why its priced as such. 5 Years in the field, never had an issue with it. The very few times I have had to use a warranty on one of my many Vortex products, I got a real person on the phone immediately, got my new product within a week, at no cost to me.

There are some who will speak negatively of the brand, but I am a customer for life and will not buy anything else.

Personally, I won't buy another Leupold and will prob never be able to afford Swaro. Vortex fills my needs.

mtmuley · Mar 25, 2018

Knight.54 said:
Nope just the kind of honesty I wanted. My problem is I have looked through the swaro, so I know. I look at very few things I’ve bought as being worth their price and holding that status for a long time. My 42mm swaro Binos are just such a thing.
I have a buddy who guides in AK. He keeps telling me when one of his clients tips him with a brand new swaro spotter he’ll give me a deal on his. I’m just tired of waiting! Also his is an 85mm and I want a 60-65.
I guess I’ll have to sell a benelli ... and maybe a truck

Somewhere in between would be a Kowa. That's what I wanted, but an appliance failure took part of my spotting scope fund. So, I ended up with the Chinese piece of junk. Seriously, look at the Kowa's. mtmuley

MN Public Hunter · Mar 25, 2018

mtmuley said:
Why is this hilarious? mtmuley

I just know from other threads you're a Vortex hater so your comment did not surprise me, but telling someone to go to the very top of the food chain on spotters and spend $2000 made me laugh I guess. I think if you are going to say something sucks, at least maybe say why.

Bulldog0156 · Mar 25, 2018

Something tells me if you rock high end optics for everything else, you're going to end up disappointed with a cheap spotter.

I agree with muley.

Idahoarcheryhunter · Mar 25, 2018

Bulldog0156 said:
Something tells me if you rock high end optics for everything else, you're going to end up disappointed with a cheap spotter.

I agree with muley.

agreed you have the rolls Royce for binoculars but want to buy a 94 toyota camry with 240k miles and three different colored doors just bite it and pay for it now, you can always sell it down the road.

mtnrunner260 · Mar 26, 2018

If your not running the swaro binos on a tripod try that before buying the spotter.
I just dont think your getting that much more with the spotter. Top end zoom will be useless in low light on it. But I'm in the same boat as you, top end glass is super expensive!

Coop · Mar 26, 2018

I've got a Viper and I love it. You can find older models on sale for within $150 of the Diamondback price.

beagle001 · Mar 26, 2018

Me and my buddy co-own a Diamondback, and we've been satisfied with it. I run (also Diamondback) binocs on a tripod, then swap out the spotter if I need a closer peak. I also run a Phoneskope on it, and I feel like that makes up for a little bit of the lower (but still good) quality glass.

Matty B · Mar 26, 2018

beagle001 said:
Me and my buddy co-own a Diamondback, and we've been satisfied with it. I run (also Diamondback) binocs on a tripod, then swap out the spotter if I need a closer peak. I also run a Phoneskope on it, and I feel like that makes up for a little bit of the lower (but still good) quality glass.

Ditto, Couldn't agree more. I run a generic phonescope with my Iphone. It works great and saves a lot of walking when I need to count 4+ pts on bulls at a mile in CO or scout for muleys. For the $$$ you won't be disappointed.

devon deer · Mar 27, 2018

I have one, very happy with it, I have nothing to compare it to as I have never owned one before, but it serves my purpose, I just couldn't justify spending all that money on Swaro's.
Cheers
Richard

CForest · Mar 29, 2018

I have a viper non-hd, which would be very similar to what the diamondback is now. I thought it was great back when I had sub-par optics for everything else. Now that I have zeiss binos and leupold scopes I cant hardly stand to look through my spotter at more than base power. Judging by the rest of your optics, you will eventually be very disappointed with the diamondback. The warranty is great, but I have had to use it more than once, and don't forget most any upper tier company will have a good warranty as well. I totally understand not dropping $2k on a swaro, but the kowa or gold ring priced in the middle would be a much better choice. Razor hd is not a horrible option either. If you are stuck on a "Cheap" spotter, talk to schmalts about the theron option, people seem to like it.

brymoore · Mar 29, 2018

I owned a Vortex Viper spotter for a while. It sucked. I picked up a year old Swaro ATS 65mm for below $2k last year. Awesome. I know of another used Swaro for a similar price. I looked at Kowa but was hesitant to buy one.

livetooextreme · Mar 31, 2018

Matty B said:
Ditto, Couldn't agree more. I run a generic phonescope with my Iphone. It works great and saves a lot of walking when I need to count 4+ pts on bulls at a mile in CO or scout for muleys. For the $$$ you won't be disappointed.

I have the diamondback as well. I'm going to try to run the phone scope too. Its fine for the money, but I'm hoping the phonescope takes away some of the eye stain.

CATAHOULA12 · Apr 1, 2018

I have a Vortex Viper HD 20-60X80. I to believe you get what you pay for, however, as far as a spotter goes I went with this scope based on its features, glass clarity to cost ratio. I found this spotter to be a happy medium for my uses. Best Knight.54 in finding your perfect spotter for yourself.

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