Vortex Warranty Work - Who's needed it?

[brown dog]

Trawling various scope reviews at the mo, one enduring theme seems to be that the Vortex warranty is great; but that many buyers seem to need to use it.

Is that borne out by users here (are there any?)? 

Who here owns a Vortex?

Has it required warranty work or replacement, or been fine?

 

 

[FB66]

I had an issue with my Vortex Razor HD Gen II 4.5-27x56 Illuminated FFP EBR-7C MOA. Stopped tracking after three months. Bad enough to lose days shooting at Bisley.

Service from Optics Wharehouse was excellent but once at Vortex, they took ages to send a replacement. I ended up swapping out for NF.

Mike

[Elwood]

There's been a few on the F class circuit that have need their warranty.

[Ballistol]

I’ve got three Vortex scopes now and one spotting scope. 

My first one was bought cheap from Fleabay. I had tracking problems with it, contacted Vortex who told me to send it to CSW. I duly did this and just over two weeks later, I recieved a new scope (upgraded generation) no questions asked.

I also lost the end caps from the spotting scope, again I contacted Vortex, a week later spare caps arrived FOC.

The price point of Vortex is extremely attractive as far as I’m concerned, and I think they have got it about right in terms of price versus performance. Some people will always want the very best optical performance, and will be happy to pay the extra for that privilege, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

There is no doubt that all of my Vortex scopes are not at the very top end of performance as far as glass is concerned. I have owned, and still do own, scopes from most of the major players, but I do value the “No quibble” warranty that Vortex offer based on personal experience.

Warranty is a bit like insurance, you only know how good it is when you need it. With Vortex, I know that if it breaks, or even if I break it, it will be repaired or replaced FOC and for that, I am prepared to sacrifice some optical quality.

[Popsbengo]

I lost my bag of zero stop shims for a PST,  Vortex USA sent me a very generous bag of shims with no bother.  Very good service.

One does here quite a few warranty stories re Vortex.  I wonder if it's just 'availability bias' at work - ie, good news being shared so we hear about it rather than ordinary warranty from other manufacturers that gets no publicity?

[johngarnett]

 My Vortex Golden Eagle stopped focusing on side knob. I returned to Optics Warehouse who, in turn, sent it to CSW. They agreed a replacement but were out of stock and I had to wait a month for a replacement from US. This was during the Covid s**tstorm when I believe Vortex US were closed / not producing kit(?) I'm glad 'tis all sorted now!!

JohnG

 

[brown dog]

23 minutes ago, Popsbengo said:

I lost my bag of zero stop shims for a PST,  Vortex USA sent me a very generous bag of shims with no bother.  Very good service.

One does here quite a few warranty stories re Vortex.  I wonder if it's just 'availability bias' at work - ie, good news being shared so we hear about it rather than ordinary warranty from other manufacturers that gets no publicity?

The service is universally well reported, but the theme seems to be that many will need it - almost the opposite of 6 sigma, and pumping stuff out accepting warranty hits as a cost trade off.

A point was made, that a gold-plated warranty is great, but on, say a car, you buy it to have it on the road , not in the garage undergoing stellar warranty work.

So, trying to shape a thread about 'how many have had faults meaning they had to use it?' (rather than I lost a bit and it was replaced)

 

[Popsbengo]

43 minutes ago, brown dog said:

The service is universally well reported, but the theme seems to be that many will need it - almost the opposite of 6 sigma, and pumping stuff out accepting warranty hits as a cost trade off.

A point was made, that a gold-plated warranty is great, but on, say a car, you buy it to have it on the road , not in the garage undergoing stellar warranty work.

So, trying to shape a thread about 'how many have had faults meaning they had to use it?' (rather than I lost a bit and it was replaced)

 

It does raise the idea that Vortex may have created an outstanding warranty to go to market early with unsure quality,  pump out product to become a 'big player' in the market place and mop up the problems as they go along while managing fall-out by making a virtue of warranty performance.  Others have done this over the years - car manufacturers for sure.  Launch new product now because you must - too much investment tied up with no sales receipts.

This should be interesting if we can get sufficient data.

It reminds me of the old cry of "British car parts are so much cheaper than Japanese".  Yes, and didn't we need them to be !

[terryh]

PbG,

Exactly how it works, you can give a lifetime warranty if you are banging out lots of scopes, so the odd one fails, no worries plenty more dropping off the production line (in relatively cheap sweat shops).

I struggle to get to grips with peoples scope manufacturer selection statement 'well they have a life times warranty' on a scope as a primary influence, as it is only a 'toy' after all? Using the same logic (and borrowing your car analogy) they should be driving something like a Kia, it has a 7 year warranty 🙄

I too remember the British car vs the first Japanese (an orange Datsun estate comes to mind) when you realised that cars could always start in the rain 😁 

[brown dog]

1 hour ago, terryh said:

they should be driving something like a Kia, it has a 7 year warranty 🙄

 

I think Kia are so reliable they don't really need the warranty ... a bling Trabant with a 7 year warranty?

[terryh]

6 minutes ago, brown dog said:

I think Kia are so reliable they don't really need the warranty ... a bling Trabant with a 7 year warranty?

Sorry BD, don't understand your banter 😉😂

[Re-Pete]

He doesn't like Kias...........I had one, Euro 5 diesel estate.

Pete

[brown dog]

1 hour ago, Re-Pete said:

He doesn't like Kias...........I had one, Euro 5 diesel estate.

Pete

No... a kia is reliable, so it's a duff analogy. You need to think of an unreliable car with a massive warranty.  Could only think of Trabants... 

[ds1]

Think a couple of Czech lads took a Trabant a good ways around the world. Uaz 469 is a real driving experience- like a tractor without the comfort. They made it all posh and called it a Lada. 
 

I like the Vortex HD Razor gen2 a lot. I think the Vipers are crap. Question would be why would you buy a NEW Vortex anything when the warranty is lifetime for the product? You break it - they replace it.

Latest SH scope tracking test for your enjoyment. The PST gen 1 & 2 don’t seem to track that well.

https://www.snipershide.com/precision-rifle/scope-tracking-test-results-2020/?fbclid=IwAR1NZ-yuxcNr3ApzsuD8AvcObtmgJVgi_ftOVLCjv8iHWYvlj0GFZaRrrFw

 

[Ballistol]

I think an important aspect of the Vortex warranty is being missed, and I think it has started to affect how other companies have deployed their own warranty policies.

It covers damage however it has happened, some other scope manufacturers are now copying this, but there’s still a lot only cover manufacturing defects. I have certainly broken a scope while hunting and it was not covered by warranty.

It doesn’t matter wether you are the original or the tenth owner, you will be covered. I’ve certainly been asked for registration information and even a receipt of purchase from other manufacturers when seeking warranty work. 

It is a true lifetime warranty (as long as the company keeps going) other companies have different terms of cover.

Products that utilise electronics i.e. rangefinders etc. are also covered just the same, other companies offer a very short warranty on their electronics, and a longer conventional warranty covering just the optics.

Perhaps somebody suitably motivated could draw up a table showing all of the relevant aspects of warranty coverage and reference this by manufacturer, I’m sure it would be most interesting reading.

 

 

 

[Popsbengo]

2 minutes ago, Ballistol said:

I think an important aspect of the Vortex warranty is being missed, and I think it has started to affect how other companies have deployed their own warranty policies......

Perhaps somebody suitably motivated could draw up a table showing all of the relevant aspects of warranty coverage and reference this by manufacturer, I’m sure it would be most interesting reading.

Well yes it is a great warranty, I don't think anyone would reasonably dispute that - I took the original OP to want to know the abundance of warranty claims - ie how reliable is the product range and is the warranty a strategic way of coping with so-so quality

[Popsbengo]

26 minutes ago, ds1 said:

I like the Vortex HD Razor gen2 a lot. I think the Vipers are crap. Question would be why would you buy a NEW Vortex anything when the warranty is lifetime for the product? You break it - they replace it.

Latest SH scope tracking test for your enjoyment. The PST gen 1 & 2 don’t seem to track that well.

 

Certainly my experience of PST gen1 was pretty poor tracking

[brown dog]

32 minutes ago, Popsbengo said:

 - ie how reliable is the product range and is the warranty a strategic way of coping with so-so quality

Exactly that; you buy it to have it on the road , not in the garage undergoing stellar warranty work.

Lost day on the range, on the hill, wherever.

If the things are unreliable, and they're more likely to require warranty work than other brands,  there's a monster inconvenience factor

[Re-Pete]

At 11,000 miles, my Kia blew the clutch master cylinder seal....................at 6.30am on a frosty morning, 100yds from the house, full of rifles etc. en route to Bisley for a mornings shooting.

Could have been worse.....could have waited until I was passing Basingstoke..........nevertheless, I was not a happy bunny.

Pete

[Popsbengo]

28 minutes ago, Re-Pete said:

At 11,000 miles, my Kia blew the clutch master cylinder seal....................at 6.30am on a frosty morning, 100yds from the house, full of rifles etc. en route to Bisley for a mornings shooting.

Could have been worse.....could have waited until I was passing Basingstoke..........nevertheless, I was not a happy bunny.

Pete

I could tell you horror stories about +£120,000 cars from a 'well-known luxury car manufacturer' that spend more time in the dealers than on the road.  Happens to all brands - even Toyota on occasion

[geek]

39 minutes ago, Popsbengo said:

'well-known luxury car manufacturer'

I would guess McLaren from what I have read on the car forums (Pistonheads)? 

[banus02]

i had two vortex viper pst 6x24x50,both failed to track both return and replaced ,one of the replacements would not hold a 100 yard zero.i dont own an vortex,s any more! the warranty is of no use if you can not use the scope!

[Popsbengo]

12 minutes ago, geek said:

I would guess McLaren from what I have read on the car forums (Pistonheads)? 

Not them...

[ds1]

One more POV on this - the PST is a mid-priced scope, hopefully made by LOW. There are about 200 small components in a scope. LOW builds to any specs you want. So no surprise lower price = lower cost components, coatings etc = greater failure rate, so the warranty is very useful at this price point, maybe more so than on expensive scopes where better quality components are used. This always struck me as being one of the best things about the SWFA 20x scope of about 10 years back - cheap but good and reliable because less junk in it with no zoom.

[dorg]

I had a discussion with the distributor of a well regarded premium scope brand that does not give a lifetime cast iron guarantee. My point is the better the product the less problems and returns he would receive which would make a better warrantee less expensive to offer, the more returns you ge,t the more expensive the lifetime warrantee is to offer. His argument was the product was so good it did not need a lifetime warrantee. Made no logic to me. The only thing against that is it has scared several buyers off and onto Vortex.