With this highest-power model of
the new Razor UHD range, Vortex have upped the ante for big-eye binoculars. In
this review I find out if a magnification of 18x in a hand-held binocular is
really worth a premium price.
Vortex Razor UHD 18x56
Review
I first encountered an original Vortex Razor when I went to
pick up a telescope. The guy was impressed with the Razors and pressed them
into my hands. I’ll admit I was pretty sceptical, but even I had to admit the
view was excellent.
That was about a decade ago. Since then I’ve managed to avoid
reviewing a pair. Partly, honestly, it’s the name. I can’t say ‘Vortex Razor’
without a shopping channel voice. And though I have absolutely nothing against regular
(i.e. not big game) hunting - often the most ethical way to get meat, IMO -
Vortex marketing is all a bit too Guns'n'Ammo for me.
Then they launched these 18x56 UHDs and I just had to try a
pair. Why? Because as far as I know these are the highest magnification ‘Alpha’
binocular available and I generally like high magnifications for astronomy.
Sharp intake of breath. He called a Vortex Alpha! Indeed.
Reputation, price, features, warranty and view all point in that direction. No,
they weren’t made in an Alpine village by Europeans wearing Lederhosen; time to
get over it. But calling them Alpha does set an expectation. As always, let’s
go ahead and find out if these Razor UHDs live up to it.
At A Glance
|
Magnification |
18x |
|
Objective Size |
56mm |
|
Eye Relief |
18mm claimed (16mm from eye cup) |
|
Actual Field of View |
194ft/1000 yards (64.7m/1000m): 3.7° |
|
Apparent field of view |
~60° |
|
Close focus |
3m |
|
Transmissivity |
Est. 92% |
|
Length |
8.3in (21cm) |
|
Weight |
1179g (1240g incl. obj. caps) |
Data from Vortex/Me.
What’s in the Box?
Vortex packaging falls short of the
unboxing fabulousness offered by Zeiss and Swarovski. No watercolour landscapes
here. Not sure about becoming a Vortex Nation expat either.
Design and Build
Vortex have marketed Razors as their premium product for many years,
including the ‘HD’ models now relegated to second tier. Then in mid-2019
they introduced ‘UHD’ Razors in various sizes from 8x42 to these 18x56s.
The UHDs are roughly 50% more expensive than the HDs.
Razors are Japanese made and these latest UHDs have had all
the latest technology thrown at them to create a really premium binocular. The
unlimited, no-quibble warranty seems to reflect a real confidence in their
quality too.
Overall build quality and materials are indeed absolutely
top-notch, but I did notice two very minor flaws: a dob of glue on a
strap lug and some burs from where the armour had been trimmed around the
objectives. This kind of minor fault is not unique to Vortex – I’ve seen
similar armour fails in Zeiss and Swarovski too (as yet, never Leica).
Body
These Vortex Razors have a body made of magnesium - a premium
feature that reduces weight compared with aluminium. Their weight of around
1200g is virtually identical to Swarovski’s 56mm SLCs.
The main armour is an olive green, a more muted shade than
Swarovski’s but otherwise very similar. It is warm to hold and has a nice
textured feel that I like. Crucially, there is no rubber smell and unlike many
it isn’t a magnet for dust and finger marks. Where some bino’s might have
exposed metal, these have a smoother grey armour with ridges on the part inside
the barrels for extra grip. I really like the finish of these Razors.
Focuser
The focuser action is close to perfect – smooth, precise and
very accurate (it needs to be, as we will see) with no nasty stickiness or
backlash.
Dioptre adjustment is conventional with a ring under the
right eyepiece – snap up and turn to adjust, snap back down to lock. It works
well, with just the right resistance. Unlike the Nikon Monarch HGs I recently
reviewed, there’s no danger of the ring moving up in use.
Focus is so snappy and depth of field (inevitably, given the
magnification) shallow that you need to take time to get the dioptre adjustment
right if you’re to see the full high-resolution potential of the view.
Close focus is about 3m as claimed and I can just merge the
image at that. Close focus to infinity is about two turns, perhaps a little
less. So it is possible to follow birds on the wing and these would be ideal
for distant viewing of soaring raptors.
On this example, there was a small fault in the focus/dioptre mechanism.
It’s one I’ve seen on other high-power binos which the best (Swarovski and Zeiss avoid) –
the dioptre setting changes slightly as you focus and re-focus.
Optics - Prisms
These UHD Razors employ the Abbe-König prisms that Zeiss
pioneered with their Dialyts, rather than the usual Schmidt-Pechan (‘roof’)
prisms. Abbe-König prisms are longer than conventional roof prisms, but have a
key advantage: they bend the light using total internal reflection, whereas
roof prisms need mirror coatings. Mirrors scatter light, reducing transmission
and maybe contrast as well, so getting rid of them is a good thing. Abbe-König
prisms can increase transmittance by a noticeable 5% or so.
Recent binoculars from other brands, such as Swarovski’s SLC
HDs, Zeiss’ HTs and big-eye Conquests and Nikon’s WXs, use Abbe-König prisms
too. So Vortex is right on trend.
HD, UHD and XD – Technical Overview
I believe these new UHD Razors employ two technologies in
their objectives to improve definition, so a brief overview is in order.
Vortex have labelled these ‘UHD’ to distinguish them from
their ‘HD’ line that’s quite a lot cheaper. So what’s the difference? It all
comes down to false colour fringing, technically chromatic aberration.
False colour fringes can wash-out definition on high-contrast
parts of a view. If you’re not familiar with the effect, think of those violet edges
you get in high contrast parts of a photo. Ten years ago, this was an almost
universal problem with binoculars. More recently, many brands have adopted the
‘HD’ (‘high definition’) label for binoculars that contain an SD
(‘special-dispersion’) or ED (‘extra-dispersion’) crown glass element to curb
it. Such glass typically contains fluorides as well as oxides.
False colour fringing gets worse with increasing aperture and
magnification, so this ultra-high-power, big eye model is a prime target for
technologies to reduce it. Although they don’t publish design details, these
UHDs likely employ two SD or ED elements in their objectives to eliminate false
colour fringing, rather than the now-usual one.
Using two SD or ED lenses to cure false colour isn’t new.
Takahashi pioneered it on their ‘TOA’ telescopes. More recently, Kowa have
adopted it in their ‘XD’ range and a few recent Zeiss and Swarovski models use
it too. Does it make a difference? I believe so. Kowa XD binoculars are
effectively free of false colour and have amazing resolution.
Vortex also claim an ‘APO system’ that uses ‘index matched
lenses’ for these UHDs. This may imply that the objectives also use a special type
of glass for the flint element, giving even better correction. Again, this is a
technology found in some recent Takahashi telescopes.
In other words, these Razors UHDs employ every available
technology to reduce false colour fringing.
Optics - Objectives
Investigation with a laser confirms a triplet objective
consisting of a cemented doublet in front of third air-spaced bi-concave element.
It appears that both front and rear elements are low-scatter high-fluoride
(i.e. ED) glass as expected (see above). This is exactly the same objective
design as Kowa use in their ‘XD’ Prominar range.
Instead of the usual machined-in ridge baffles, these have a
substantial single knife-edge baffle behind the objectives and ridging in the
focuser housing. The lens ring holding the objectives in place is micro-ridged
to reduce flare.
Vortex claim the latest scratch-resistant (ArmorTekTM)
and high-transmission (XRTM) coatings. Those coatings have the same
muted greenish hue seen in other premium binoculars today and they are very
transparent:
Razor barrel has a single knife-edge baffle, not the more
usual ridging. Coatings are top notch.
Optics - Eyepieces
The eye lenses are a massive 25mm, like many high-end bino’s
feature now; but the eye lenses are flat, not the dished type you get with say
Swarovski ELs.
Field of view at 3.7° is exactly the same as Canon’s 18x50
IS binoculars – a moderately wide 60° apparent.
Eye relief is often a problem with high power binoculars.
Why’s that? I’ll spend this paragraph explaining. Skip it if you’re not
interested. Essentially, the short focal length eyepieces needed to get the
higher power have naturally lower eye relief. Let’s take an imaginary example,
based on a type of telescope eyepiece commonly available in a range of focal
lengths, the Plössl, which tends to have eye relief a
bit lower than its focal length. So, imagine 8x56 binoculars with objectives
that have a focal length of 224mm (F4). These would need 28mm eyepieces
(224mm/8x). Plössls of that focal length would have a super-generous ~20mm
eye relief and sure enough most 8x56 binoculars do have. Now consider the same
objectives but an 18x magnification. Now the eyepieces need to be 12mm focal
length, but based on those Plössls again it would have ER of ~10mm,
which is very low by (modern) binocular standards. Solving this problem takes
expensive eyepieces with lots of elements,
sophisticated designs and special glasses...
Vortex has done just that and claim an outstanding 18mm of eye relief for the 18x56
Razors, but that’s from the recessed eye lenses. I measured 16mm from the rim
of the eye cup: still a very good result for high power binoculars. Leica’s
12x50s have much less and even my best buy Swarovski 15x56 SLC HDs have a
critical millimetre or two less than these Razors. It’s enough that I can
pretty much see the whole field with my glasses on.
Blackouts as you move your eye around aren’t a problem either,
but are slightly worse than the very best.
The twist-out eye cups have three out positions and are among
the smoothest and most positive I have tried, as good as Swarovski, better than
Zeiss and Leica.
Accessories
The caps are basic but effective – a push on rubber eyepiece
cap, push-in objective caps held on by bands. A little logoed belt-on pouch is provided for the caps,
or – according to Vortex – a brace of your favourite .378 Weatherby Magnum cartridges.
The strap is a fairly low-rent item compared to a Swarovski ‘Lift’
strap too, but that does make it much cheaper to replace.
The case is rigid and designed to carry the bino’s whilst
attached to a harness (also provided) or your belt. It’s a large but quality accessory with
extra pouches on the side. It has an unusual lid held on by elastic that can
fold away forwards in the field, but it doesn’t provide complete closure when
folded over the binoculars (it’s open at the back – see below).
Unthreading the logoed cover on the front of the Razors’ hinge
reveals a standard tripod-adapter thread. Disappointingly, given the high power
(and unlike Zeiss’ 15x56 Conquests), the adapter is not provided.
In Use – Daytime
Ergonomics and Handling
Those barrels with their long slim section and flared ends
look weird. But here’s the thing, they make these the most comfortable big-eye
bino’s I have tested. Reducing shakes in big-eyes means holding them around the
objectives: Vortex know this and have designed accordingly, with that patch of
ribbed armour where your fingertips go. This feature really helps make them
easier to hold stead. The only problem is that the focuser is then a long way off;
it might have been better on the front end of the bridge.
Eyepiece comfort, with plenty of eye relief and minimal blackouts,
is state of the art for high-power binoculars.
Weight is comparable with other recent premium big-eyes and
these look a bit slimmer hanging around your neck than some monsters (think
Zeiss 56mm Conquests).
Not a small
binocular, but the Vortex razors are less obtrusive than a pair of big black
Zeiss Conquests, for example.
The View
The view is stunning. For a start it’s incredibly bright,
especially for a big-eye binocular of this power. As I’ve explained before,
brightness during the day isn’t helped by the big lenses, because your
contracted pupil stops the binoculars down. Instead, brightness depends on
transmissivity and here it’s as good as almost any premium 10x42. Colours are
vivid but natural. Sharpness and resolution seem outstanding.
It’s a good job the focuser is precise because these have an
absolute and unforgiving focus snap. Combine that with the high magnification
and a shallow depth of field (not a fault – inevitable at this magnification) and
careful focus is required to get the very sharpest view.
I enjoy watching a flock of Goldfinches in the high branches
of a tree, with their golden wing flashes and red heads displayed with perfect
clarity. So what? So, They’re 200m away! At a similar distance, I can
see the spring buds of bulbs poking through the fallen leaves in my local
copse. I can ID waders hundreds of metres off on the bay sands, or a plane
passing at altitude. Resolution at distance is amazingly high.
Overall, these have a view as good as the very best high
power binoculars, but with even more reach.
Flat field?
These
are a hunting binocular so you should expect, and do get, some field curvature
to avoid the worst ‘rolling ball’ effect when panning. The field softens in the
last 20% or so of field, perhaps a bit more so than with Swarovski’s 15x56 SLCs
and definitely more than their ELs, but still less than many.
Field
quality drops off slightly towards the edge. Note the false colour fringing the
bright tree trunk. Compare Swaro’s 15x56 SLC HDs below.
Same
view through Swarovski’s 15x56 SLC HDs.
Chromatic Aberration
Given
all that marketing hype about ‘UHD’ and ‘APO System’ (and there really is a lot
of special glass in the objectives) you might expect these to be free from
false colour. They aren’t. Watching my local Jackdaws against a bright dusk
sky, their black plumage gets fringed in purple and green the way all bino’s used
to. Even regular bright targets – a tree trunk, a sheep’s fleece, a chimney pot
– show false colour, proper green and purple in focus.
Don’t think
this ruins the view, it certainly doesn’t.
But these do display quite a lot of false colour under certain circumstances –
more than most regular HD binoculars, much more than Swarovski’s 15x56 SLCs
(one of the few areas these Razors trail the SLCs). That false colour also gets
worse in the field edge area that suffers from softening as noted above.
The source
of the false colour is partly, of course, the objectives, given the very high
magnification. But the eyepieces may partly be to blame as well. Still, it’s
one of the few areas these binoculars fall well short of perfection. It’s
especially surprising considering Vortex must have had the 15x56 SLCs to
benchmark and that these Razors are about a cm longer than the SLCs too (longer
focal length objectives reduce false colour, other things being equal).
In Use – Dusk
Super bright optics and big-eye objectives mean these perform
very well at dusk, really digging deep into dense twilight shadow to deliver
woodland colour and detail. Given that many will buy these for twilight hunting,
that’s no surprise. There is no problem with sky-glow washout either.
In Use – The Night Sky
That field edge softening noted during the day surprises by
being a total non issue at night. Stars remain stars until close to the field
stop; and even then, they don’t turn all linear as they do through some. You
don’t get that smeared ‘tunnel’ effect on the Milky Way at all. Orion’s belt
easily fits into the field, whilst Alnitak and Mintaka at either end remain largely
undistorted. What slight distortion you get at the very edge is mostly field
curvature – you can focus it away.
These easily pull brighter Messier objects out of a twilight
sky between civil and nautical dusk and an hour before true astronomical
darkness. They would likely work very well for urbanites dealing with light
pollution.
Star images are tight for the magnification, just a little
less point-like than through a fine pair of 10x porros.
The small field of view (due to the 18x mag) makes finding
things a bit harder than with a fine 15x56. Distances between objects seem huge
at this power and you have to re-calibrate your star-hopping. But the rewards
are outstanding binocular views, often more like a fine small telescope.
The 18x magnification does magnify shakes, but holding them
around the barrel ends steadies things, helped by the flared barrel design and
open bridge. I found the high power more manageable than I was expecting, but
leaning on a car or wall helps. The good eye relief and lack of blackouts made
for a very comfy view too.
The Moon and bright streetlights produced no ghosting, but a
trace of a faint spike on the streetlight. Working around the Moon revealed no
flare at all. But viewing well away from the Moon, I suddenly discovered a
bright reflection of it, from an un-blacked barrel or prism perhaps.
The Moon
A
magnification of 18x gives a telescopic view of the Moon. Combined with the
sharp, high-res optics it makes a hand held binocular Moon something to linger
over and explore, rather than a quick look … if you can hold steady. On the
Moon, more than anything else, I became aware of the shakes through the 18x56s.
There was masses of detail and enough magnification to really explore, but it
was also obvious how much shakes were a limiting factor.
Finally,
leaning on my balcony rail or sitting with my head resting back on the wall, I
got a steady enough view. And what a view! A 22-day Moon revealed bright white Aristarchus,
way out west in Oceanus Procellarum; Maurolycus near the terminator with its
central peak; dark floored Plato and nearby Teneriffe Mountains in Mare
Imbrium. Huge craters like Albategnius; subtle shading, brilliant rays and dark
patches in the maria; more philosophers – Aristoteles and Eudoxus – in the far
north.
The
Razors showed a hint of false colour on the very limb of the Moon, but
otherwise the view was as sharp and monochromatic and detailed as through a
small apochromatic telescope designed for astronomy.
Venus
A
brilliant (magnitude -4) Venus at just 14” across showed a hint of its gibbous phase
with almost no flare and just a trace of false colour at twilight. In a dark
sky, there was more false colour and flare which obscured the phase, but no
nasty ghosts and just a hint of spikes.
Deep Sky
I had a fantastic deep sky session one dark night with my
neighbours’ security lights all off for once – so good I didn’t want to come in
and write this up!
The clusters – M37, M36 and M38 - in Auriga were easily
resolved into individual stars with direct vision. M37 was just spectacular and
M38, the Starfish Cluster, really showed its sweeping arms. The Double Cluster
was one of the best views I have had with bino’s – big, bright and surrounded
by myriads of stars.
M31 was bright and dense of core, its companion (M110) very
obvious and that dark-lane cut-off much more evident than usual. I even found
M33 before true astronomical darkness and the view in full night was one of the
best I’ve had, with a sense of its shape for once. Bode’s Nebula was easy to
find and its paired galaxies’ different shapes more apparent than usual.
Albireo was a giant split, with strong blue and orange
colours. Resting on the car and breathing like a marksman (how appropriate!), I
split the Trapezium.
The
Pleiades filled much of the field, full of fainter stars – a beautiful view
much more typical of a small telescope than most hand-held bino’s. The misty
nebula surrounding the main stars was really obvious through the Razors, as it
usually is only through a telescope.
Globular
cluster M15 was especially big and bright and easy to find. M1, often
challenging for bino’s, was easy to find too – standing out with direct vision.
The
highlight was M42, which showed nebular structure like I’ve never seen with
bino’s before and hints of nebulosity in other parts of the sword too. The
whole view was just wonderfully comfy and easy, detailed and perfect.
Overall,
these performed outstandingly for deep sky. The combination of bright optics,
big lenses, flat field and high power, along with the comfiest hold I’ve
experienced made these an unequalled astronomy experience for me.
Vortex Razor 18x56 UHD
vs Swarovski 15x56 SLC HD
The SLC HDs are my all-time
favourite high power binocular and astronomy binocular in general. Let’s
compare them with the Razors.
·
The Swarovskis are more ’perfect’ with almost
nothing of note to criticise
·
The Razors show a bit more field-edge softening and
(surprisingly) quite a lot more false colour, again especially off-axis
·
The Razors are slightly more troubled by
stray light and prism spikes
·
In most ways, their build quality is equally good.
If anything, the Razors have a slightly more ‘premium’ look and feel
·
The SLCs’ dioptre adjustment is more sophisticated
and better
·
The Razors have a couple of mm more eye relief which
makes them more comfy with glasses
·
The Razors’ slim, flared barrels are a bit easier
and more comfortable to hold steady
·
The Razors are longer and slimmer, but no heavier
·
The Razors’ higher power ultimately pulls in more
distant detail, if you can hold them steady
Summary
Vortex’s Razor 18x56s are really
excellent, truly an ‘Alpha’ binocular. The view is wide, sharp and incredibly high
resolution. These pull in distant detail like nothing else this side of a
mounted scope (or maybe a pair of image stabilised Canon 18x50s).
Build quality is generally excellent too, with little to
criticise. Comfort, both in the hold and at the eyepiece, are class leading for
a high-magnification binocular.
They underperform the most perfect
big-eye binoculars I have ever tested – Swarovski’s 15x56 SLC HDs – in just a
couple of areas: field edge softening is slightly higher and false colour
markedly so, despite the ‘UHD’ label. In terms of build, the Swarovski’s
dioptre adjustment is more sophisticated, but it’s a minor point. A more serious one
is minor variation in the dioptre adjust as you focus and re-focus; it’s not as bad as some,
but a pair of Swarovski SLCs or ELs would avoid this flaw.
Hang on, though, because these
Razors actually beat the Swarovskis in three ways. The first is simply
magnification. The extra 3x does make a real difference to close in views –
during the day for nature viewing or plane spotting, raptors or hunting; but
especially for astronomy, where views of the Moon and DSOs remind of a small apochromatic
telescope. The second is that the Razors are more comfortable to hold steady
with those flared barrels. Finally, the Razors’ extra eye relief is more comfy
for specs wearers.
True, the Swarovski SLC HDs are
ultimately more ‘perfect’, but if you can hold them steady the Razors will
likely reveal more. Which should you choose? That really does depend on your
personal preferences – both are superb binoculars. Personally, I am tempted to
buy a pair of the Razors for their outstanding astro’ performance.
The Vortex Razor 18x56s now share the top spot for high-power
bino’s with Swarovski’s 15x56 SLC HDs. With a bit less false colour and field
curvature, the Razors would an outright best buy. They may well be the best
hand-held astro’ bino’s I’ve tested, but try before you buy to make sure you’re
happy with the extreme high power.
