New Vortex 1500 Yard Rangefinder!

[Elknut1]

Vortex is coming out with a New 1500 yard Rangefinder! Sweet!!! It is lightning fast in readouts & these units have 2 clicks to activate instead of 3. It also has all the other great features the 1000 has such as Incline Decline Compensation throughout all distances! They should be available end of Jan or early Feb. I have mine coming! (grin)

  ElkNut1

[grundy53]

Nice!. What's the MSRP?

Sent from my E6782 using Tapatalk

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

 

[Antlershed]

Nice!. What's the MSRP?

Sent from my E6782 using Tapatalk

I am in the market..

[Elknut1]

The MAP Price is 479.00 -- We will have an Introductory offer for less for the first two weeks we have them here! Stay tuned, it will be well worth it! (grin) We will only have so many, so if interested act pretty quick!

  ElkNut1

[Antlershed]

Safe to assume you have had your hands on one already? I bought a Ranger 1000 when they first came out, and couldn't get it to range a hillside in broad daylight much past 350 yards. Will the 1500 come closer to its advertised yardage?

[Elknut1]

No I haven't. I don't know of anyone that has besides Vortex. If you have a 1000 & it is not ranging over 350 yards you should have had it looked at. We use 5 of them & all will hit elk regularly at 650 yards to 800 yards. 350 yards simply means the laser is miss aligned. It can happen to any unit in any brand. It can be fixed easily by Vortex. On my 1000 I have ranged over 1100 yards, it's not the norm but occasionally it does do it.

  On another note I've not owned a Rangefinder by Nikon or Leupold that ranged out to what they say. For instance I have a Leupold RX 1200, I've not ranged over 750 yards with it, there's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't range any further. The Nikon Riflehunter 550 has never hit 500 yards, other than that it works fine too.

  I'm assuming the 1500 will be closer to the 1200 yards as a common range with an uncommon reading further at times. I'll see when I have one in my hands! Thanks!

  ElkNut1

[Antlershed]

Thanks for the info. I returned the Ranger 1000 to Cabelas at the time and bought the Leica 1000. I recently sold my Leica because I want something that compensates for angle. Was planning on picking up the newer Leica, but I may have to hold off and check out the new Vortex first.

[muleyslayer]

I'd definitely be interested in one 

[Elknut1]

Brent, you bring up a good point there!My Nikon did have Angle Comp through entire ranging distance. The Leupold does not, it starts at 99 yards, I do not like it as I'm primarily a bowhunter with an occasional rifle hunt. The Vortex Models will have Angle in both Decline & Inclines. Thanks1

  ElkNut1

[Antlershed]

Brent, you bring up a good point there!My Nikon did have Angle Comp through entire ranging distance. The Leupold does not, it starts at 99 yards, I do not like it as I'm primarily a bowhunter with an occasional rifle hunt. The Vortex Models will have Angle in both Decline & Inclines. Thanks1

  ElkNut1

I meant to ask, does the Vortex do the angle comp at all ranges (11 yards and up)? I think I recently read where the Leica doesn't start doing angle comp til after 100, which like you mentioned, is a downside.

[Elknut1]

Exactly, from 11 yards & up!

  I will say it came in quite handy this year. I had a bull coming up a very steep incline to me, as he hit some cover 150 yards out I ranged a small tree in the brush at 80 yards & closer to me was a rotten stump which I figured to be 45 yards give or take. Well when I ranged it, it read 31 yards, I hit it again & again & each time it read 31 yards but I was doubting it!? Yes it was very steep below me but still there were doubts, I stayed with what it ranged & as the bull came up & pass the stump I estimated he had to be 25 yards now as he was in front of the stump. The bull came up & was struggling to see where his next foot hold would be as he tried climbing up, he hesitated for just a 2nd & I let the arrow fly, perfect hit through both lungs. Man was I glad I didn't second guess the distance & stray away from what the rangefinder read! (grin) Here's a clip of the shot!

  You can see how steep the angle is I'm aiming at, even at 25 yards you still can't see any rack! It was that steep!

 

  ElkNut1

[Antlershed]

Great clip. Thanks for all the info.

[lamrith]

I been thinking about a new rangefinder too..  hrmmm  Love my Diamondback 12x50 binos

[Reidus]

How does it compare in size to the Ranger 1000?

[Elknut1]

They are identical in weight & size.

  ElkNut1

[deerslyr]

Is there an adjustment to turn the angle compensator off? Or can you see what the original straight line distance is like the leupys?

[Elknut1]

Yes, you can have it on any mode you choose. Don't know if it shows both straight line & angle comps at the same time. I do not have one in hand, yet! (grin)

  ElkNut1

[shootem]

Keep us posted. I may be in.

[Antlershed]

Any idea when you will get your hands on them? Seeing photos from Shot Show, and they are starting to pop up on eBay for sale.

[KFhunter]

I'd love to see some head to head comparison reviews with the new sig kilo

[Stein]

Safe to assume you have had your hands on one already? I bought a Ranger 1000 when they first came out, and couldn't get it to range a hillside in broad daylight much past 350 yards. Will the 1500 come closer to its advertised yardage?

I had the same problem and sent mine in.  I should get it on Monday, they turned it around in less than a week.

[Elknut1]

Stein, good in sending it in, there's a laser miss aligned in your unit. It happens, I sent one back for a customer that had the same issue. Vortex has sold 10's of thousands of these, few go back but now & then one does.

  I did finally get my hands on a new Sig 2000, I did my best to run it through the ringer. I did so side by side with a new Leupold 1000 & Vortex 1000. The Sig gives very fast readouts & responds nicely but too many cons for me to own one!

  Here's issues with it. #-1 -- Crappy optics, not clear at all. For instance, when looking at 80 yards you see the target good but anything even 3' from it is a blur, no kidding. It only focuses on the exact target. The Vortex & Leupold was clear all around the target.

  #- 2 -- You have to focus it constantly from 20 yards to 30 yards if you do not it's a blur. I focused to 20 yards then looked at 80 yards & wow, you cannot see much at all, it was terrible! The Vortex & Leupold had no issues seeing all those distances with no additional focusing. Once the Vortex & Leupold were focused at 20 yards they still needed no focusing at 500 yards. The Sig needed constant focusing no matter the distance, it was a pain!

  # -3 -- You cannot focus it easily, the small rubber type wheel is very difficult to turn, I don't  mean just firm I mean it was very hard to turn, it took two hands to do it. Definitely an issue with as much focusing is needed on ones hunts!

  # - 4 -- The laser on it is not pinpoint precise. Yes it will shoot 3,000 yards but at bowhunter distances anything within 2'-3' high or low will catch the lasers eye & give you a misread distance. I did this aprox 20 times & it's not reliable at all. If you were to range a deer or elk at 50 yards & there's a branch within 2'-3' of it high or low it will catch the branch even if it's 10 yards from the 50 yard target. I did not like that at all. With that happening how far could you be off at 200 or 600 yards, it's not trustworthy.

  Those of you have one please go out & test these things & you will see what I'm talking about. Not pushing Leupold or Vortex but be careful of the Sig & it's actual operation.

  ElkNut1

[HntnFsh]

Wow! That's a lot different review than the one Bob put up. Wonder if he would care to chime in and share his experience with those units. Any chance you just got a bad 1.

[Bob33]

Wow! That's a lot different review than the one Bob put up. Wonder if he would care to chime in and share his experience with those units. Any chance you just got a bad 1.

I don't have any reason to push or bash any particular product line.

I stated the optics were not as good as a Leica but I had no problems clearly identifying objects at all distances. The optics are comparable to other rangefinders I've used with the exception of Leica including Vortex, Bushnell, Leupold, and Nikon.

I had no problem getting accurate readings under a variety of conditions.

[HntnFsh]

Ive read several reviews on the Sigs. This is the first negative 1 Ive seen.

[Elknut1]

Bob, thanks! I guess I didn't see your review! I wasn't comparing my findings with yours, certainly was not stepping on your toes. I had read quite a few reviews on both Rokslide & the Long Range Forums, this is what prompted me to check one out! In honesty I was disappointed with it. Would you check yours & let me know how yours does on these 4 things? Thanks!

  1 - Optics not very good. By not good I'm referring to the blur with everything around left & right of target within the lens.

  2 - Constant focus. It needs to be re-focused to every target distance even as little as 10 or 15 yards from last focus. That's an issue for bowhunters like myself.

  3 - Focus wheel does not want to turn, it's very hard to get at & you about have to dig into the soft rubber to get a bite on the wheel to get it to turn, this is an issue since it needs constant focusing. To me this was it's biggest downfall.

  4 - Laser casts a beam aprox 5'X5' instead of the size of a golfball. It kept catching anything that was near target that was in front of it. If you're ranging objects that are by themselves you may not notice this, range objects under 100 yards with things close by & in front of target & see if yours does this?

  Other than this the laser is lightning fast & scans moving objects very well. I had no issues with read outs. Others that I read about did. Thanks!

  Anything is possible about getting a bad one but I was at the Sporting goods place & the couple that were there were the same.

  ElkNut1

[Bob33]

The Sig Kilo does not have a focus knob/wheel. Neither does my Leica.

They have diopter adjustments, which serve an entirely different purpose.

Diopter adjustments are intended to be used once to adjust for individual eye differences. Once set, they should not be changed. They are designed to be difficult to change. They're difficult to change on my Sig, and also on my top end Swaroskis, on purpose.

Nearly all top end optics have diopter adjustments. If one doesn't, I would wonder why.

As for focusing, I've not yet seen a rangefinder that does adjust focus. It seems to me it would be unnecessary, and a needless loss of time when you want to get a reading quickly.

[Elknut1]

Bob, agreed, you should be able to focus diopter one time for all distances as did the Leupold & Vortex. The Sig would not do that, even minor distance changes were a blur if I did not re-focus, that is my issue with it there. Have you noticed this same thing? Range different distances from 15 yards on out to whatever you'd like, notice the clarity diminishes rapidly to the point of not being able to identify ones target unless you re-focus.  Thanks for your response.

  ElkNut1

[jackelope]

Tagging!!?!?

[Bob33]

Bob, agreed, you should be able to focus diopter one time for all distances as did the Leupold & Vortex. The Sig would not do that, even minor distance changes were a blur if I did not re-focus, that is my issue with it there. Have you noticed this same thing? Range different distances from 15 yards on out to whatever you'd like, notice the clarity diminishes rapidly to the point of not being able to identify ones target unless you re-focus.  Thanks for your response.

  ElkNut1

Since you asked: based on my own experience, the experience of friends, other Hunt WA members, and numerous reports from various sources I've never heard of anyone else experiencing what you are reporting.

[Reidus]

Interesting......

I'd like to compare it to my leica 1600.

[Elknut1]

Bob, I too have read the threads on other sites. The Long Range site took 40 minutes to read in its entirety. All the things I've brought up are talked about on that forum, it's just not one person talking about all of them at once, they are scattered throughout the thread. I thought it was odd no one carried out their thoughts further because of all the good that was said.

  As I mentioned, I will go & look at another one this weekend, I'll see if there's a difference, thanks!

  ElkNut1

[Elknut1]

OK Bob & others , just got back from testing out another Sig! This one seemed very nice, I believe the optics were even better than the last ones! I had no problem with pinpoint accuracy out to 100 yards & no issue with the actual target being a blur as I ranged a variety of distances. It didn't require constant focusing either. It appeared to work very good. Wow, what a difference from the last ones! If they all were to perform like this one I can see why hunters are talking them up. I really look forward to the Vortex 1500 so I can see how it stacks up! The Sig seemed very nice!

  ElkNut1

[Bob33]

That's an encouraging report although it suggests Sig may have a quality control issue.

[Elknut1]

Bob, I think there's lemons in everything out there these days! From Vehicles to Optics, what really counts is that the company services their product promptly! In all honesty I really liked the Sig I messed with today, man it was fast! Thanks for all your input & encouraging me to look further if I hadn't I would not have seen the one I did today!

  ElkNut1

[TheHunt]

Elknut, have you tried the range finder? 

Have you tried them in rain?

[Bob33]

Elknut, have you tried the range finder? 

Have you tried them in rain?

I was hitting trees at 1300 yards in the rain today with a Sig. My Leica gave me three middle fingers.

[bone collector 12]

The 1500 is only good on deer out to 750,  per vortex's website! Love the sigs

[jackelope]

A lot of times you could range the ground or the hill or whatever at ranges greater than 750 I would assume.

[Elknut1]

No I haven't even seen the 1500 yet? They are not out to us dealers. I know they were out at the Shot Show, that's what I'd heard. Vortex did tell me they feel it will range elk to 1200 yards. I can believe it because I've ranged elk to 780 with the 1000. I've ranged Deer & Elk to 600-780 yards in many situations with it.

  Like Jackelope says, it's tough to hand hold a unit & have the laser right on a target at those great distances, I too hit around the animal on the ground or anything close to it for best & quicker results.

  ElkNut1