I just returned from our deer camp where one of the younger "sharp stick" hunters had a pair of Vortex Sidewinder 8x42 bins. For less than $200 street price, I was impressed. I am not and optics expert, but I was able to compare with some Nikon, Bushnell, Pentax, a Leica 8x and Swaro's. This glass looked and preformed far better than the more expensive Pentaxand Nikon, and looked, felt and adjusted nearly as well as the much more spendy Leica and Swaro. They are USA marked, Roof prism design, sealed, and felt and handled great. Field seemed better, there was less distortion at the edges and view in the twilight was as good or better than any other glass in camp.

I know nothing about this company, and had never heard of this glass until this trip. I have seen no reviews, and the "Better View" site doesn't list them.

Is this a new company? Is this an off brand of an established company? Does anyone have experience with durability for this product? I currently use an old pair of Leica 8x, but am thinking of purchasing this Vortex for a back up or "truck glass". Any information, experience or opinions would be appreciated.

Roger

RogerR---You have heard of Vortex Sidewinders and have seen them which puts you way ahead of me. So I can only offer another option as an opinion. Go to EBAY and look for Bausch & Lomb binoculars. There will usually be several listings for 7x50 WWII era binos. These old Rochester NY made binoculars are old enough to draw social security---survived the war and still Mac truck tuff. Optically you cant beat them. No warranty ofcourse,but can still be repaired if need be. Best bargain in binoculars in my books and make a great truck set. They are bulky and not too bad to carry with shoulder strap.

We met with the people from Vortex a few weeks ago and have become dealers as we were impressed with their quality to price/value. Their optics seem to be of a fine quality, the workmanship of the units is quite impressive and their prices are very low for what they offer.

Vortex, Stokes, Sheltered Wings and Audubon are offshoot companies of Eagle Optics in Middleton, Wisconsin. These companies develop specifications for optics and then find Japanese and Chinese manufacturers and possibly manufacturers from other countries that either have products that can be adapted to their brands or can meet those specifications for new manufacture. These companies offer some of the best values in optics available.

The Vortex Sidewinders are representative of the budget-priced optics becoming available due to there no longer being any secrets to making good roof prism binoculars and companies moving equipment, processes and quality control to cheaper labor markets. It will be interesting to see if this trend eventually has any effect on the upper end. As far as durability goes Eagle Optics in general has one of the best warranties in the business, perhaps reflecting their confidence in their products' reliability.

Nobody has mentioned, so I will. The majority of the optics sold by Vortex, Stokes, Audubon are made in China, with the exception of the very high line optics.

I believe the Vortex Viper and Razor, and Stokes Broadwing and DLS are made in Japan. The quality of optics made in China are quite good for those companies who stay on top of things, although some people might have a philosophical aversion to them.