Birding at the Sharp End

This week the lovely folks at Cley Spy have been kind enough to lend me a new spotting scope for a quick field-test.

The scope is the latest offering from American company Vortex Optics - the Razor HD 27-60 x 85. At £1379 it sits about £1000 below its similarly-sized European-made rivals. I suppose you could call it the high-end of the mid-range!

Its nearest rival is the Japanese-made Zeiss Gavia (£1480), which is also available to try at Cley Spy.

The Razor is available in straight and angled varieties and a smaller 22-48 x65mm version (£989) is also available. The scope is appropriately named ‘Razor’ - because it definitely looks sharp! Clad in grey & green rubber it certainly looks the business, with more than a hint of ‘Tyrolean’ style about it.

It certainly doesn’t feel like any corners have been cut in manufacture, as this scope feels solid, robust & well-made. At 1.86 KG the Vortex is lighter than the Gavia and Swarovski ATX85.

In addition, this scope is also covered by Vortex’s lifetime VIP Warranty, which even covers accidental damage and is also fully transferable to future owners. 

Handily, the scope will fit directly into a Manfrotto tripod head, without the need of an annoying plate. It has a decent rain/sun shade for the objective lens and I am a big fan of the barrel focus wheel.

  

I gave the scope a thorough field test on a visit to Titchwell Marsh and was really impressed with the quality of the image. In the early morning light, the brightness of the image was excellent. The image stayed sharp and bright right through the zoom range on a perched female marsh harrier in the reedbed. Although it is not as sharp as a Swarovski ATX85 or Kowa TSN-883, you need to bear in mind that this scope is more than £1000 less than either of those two.

These handheld phonescoped images give you an idea of what the scope can do.

Female marsh harrier at 27x magnification (full zoom)

Female marsh harrier at 60x magnification 

If you’re in the market for a quality spotting scope and can’t quite stretch to the prices of the European brands (or would rather spend the difference on a birding holiday like me!) you can’t go wrong with this one. It’s very well made, performs excellently optically and it’s nice to know that the warranty is there to cover for any mishaps!