I’ve purchased a lot of gear from a lot of companies over the years, and they all have different ways of “standing behind their products.” There’s always the cheaper stuff with a 30-60-90 day warranty…if one of those fails me, I usually just pitch it and get something different because who wants a second one of those anyway? Then, there’s the 1-year people…I’ve had more than one issue where something finally shows signs of a problem 367 days after purchase, and I wonder how they could possibly design it to fail so close to the expiration of the warranty. Finally, there’s the lifetime warranty people (and I don’t mean “limited lifetime warranty”)…I mean those companies who believe so strongly in their product that they boldly proclaim that they will make it right no matter what happens at any point in the life of the product.
If you hunt in the West, odds are you’ll spend A LOT of time behind your glass!
Vortex is one such company! In fact, there’s an entire page on their website dedicated to spelling out just how passionate they are about repairing anything that happens to your optics. But, can it really be that simple? Will they actually cover anything? And will there be a whole bunch of red tape, a list of hidden loopholes, a phone call once they have your glass trying to up-sell you or explain how they can’t fix your problem but won’t be sending you a replacement because of X, Y, or Z? I know, I’m a bit on the suspicious side…I’m working on it!
Well, as the winter hunts came to a close here in AZ, I had two different pieces of Vortex glass that I had been procrastinating getting repaired. So, while I was a couple months away from my next hunting adventure, I decided to put that Vortex warranty to the test. I boxed up my rifle scope and binoculars, shipped them off to Vortex headquarters, and immediately felt naked (it’s a weird feeling to suddenly have two of your primary hunting tools out of your possession). But, here I sit just a few weeks later with all my glass back safely, and let me tell you just a couple reasons I’m now a Vortex guy for life…
DISCLAIMER: I am not endorsed by or affiliated with Vortex in any way, and they have no idea I’m even posting this. I just wanted to share my experience in hopes that it helps someone else make an informed purchasing decision.
Sending in your scope means you’ll have to take it back out to the range to dial everything back in…not sad about it!
Great Communication
Optics are obviously one of the higher-dollar items in a hunter’s arsenal, and it can be super nerve-wracking to ship them across the country wondering what’s going to happen. Vortex seems to know this, and does a great job keeping you up to date throughout the whole process. The day my shipment arrived at Vortex, I had an email from them assuring me “my glass was in good hands.” It included the service order, reassurance that there really is NOTHING they won’t cover, and even provided timeline estimates for my repairs. Then, once they completed the repair, a second email arrived letting me know my glass was on its way back to me. Of course, they include the tracking number so you can watch your gear make its way back across the country and to your doorstep.
That’s a great system on its own, but I even tested their communication a bit further. I sent Vortex two separate shipments at the same time. My rifle scope (a Viper 6.5-20x50, since you asked) had a small issue I wanted corrected, and my binos (old school Diamondback 10x50s) had been through close to a decade of hard hunting and needed some serious work. The rifle scope got turned around in six days, and I was pumped! But as I entered the 3rd week since I had sent my binos away without an update, I got a little nervous (especially as Spring bear season was fast approaching). I try not to be a high-maintenance customer, but I finally fired off a quick email just asking for an update. Within an hour I had a response from a real live human who had confirmed where my optics stood in the queue and an updated timeline of when I could expect them. Sure enough, my second “your glass is coming home” email arrived a few days later, which was a couple days sooner than she had predicted in the email. In short, I was blown away with their level of customer service, but that wasn’t the only thing that impressed me…
Full Coverage…No Matter What
The exact verbiage Vortex gives about their warranty is as follows: “VIP Warranty: Optics are meant to be used outside - often times in the harshest environments imaginable. Couple that fact with ‘life’ happening, and there's a lot that can impact your prized optical instruments. One thing is certain - from cliff drops to camp destroying brown bears and house fires to hurricanes - The Lifetime - Unconditional - Transferable -No-Fault Vortex VIP Warranty has you covered.” That sounds pretty all-inclusive, but I was still waiting for some sort of catch. My binos were all jacked up, and I’m sure it had something to do with the fact that I’ve dropped them in the field at least 20 different times. And even though the warranty is “Transferable,” I kept thinking that I had never submitted a warranty registration card, and my rifle scope was an eBay open box special…I was just sure I was going to get dinged somewhere in this process.
Well, my suspicious nature was no match for Vortex’ warranty…they really didn’t care what had caused the issues; they just fixed them! The repair sheet on my binoculars was a paragraph long with a whole bunch of technical jargon that basically meant “these things have been through hell," and they came back in the same shape they were in when I unboxed them one Christmas morning many years ago.
Well-used binos in like-new condition…and the window decal they threw in was a really nice touch!
The Repairs ACTUALLY Fix the Problem
I don’t know if you’ve ever had a mechanic who is clearly just throwing parts at a problem with your car, but it’s maddening. You take it in, describe the problem, pay him a few hundred bucks, and drive away. On the way home, the problem reappears. So, you go back the next day, go through the same process, pick up your car, and it’s still not fixed…that’s usually when people find a different mechanic. To be honest, I was a little afraid that I might have this happen with my optics, and I didn’t want to be in a shipping contest back and forth with Vortex trying to get my gear working correctly.
Well, as soon as my optics came back home, I was obviously dying to tear the package open and see if everything was functioning again. I mounted up my rifle scope, checked that the magnification adjustment was smooth (the problem I had sent it in for), and it was perfect. I took it out to the range to get it sighted in, and it performed flawlessly. A couple weeks later, my binos arrived with that massive list of things they had fixed, and as I put them up to my eyes I realized just how messed up I had let them get. I hadn’t seen this clearly through those lenses in at least a few hunting seasons! And I don’t mean they had just cleaned up the lenses (though they certainly did), but I had a bunch of things out of alignment that were causing blurry zones in my field of view. Apparently, I had just gotten pretty used to them, and now that I’m looking through perfectly clear glass again, I can’t believe what I’ve been missing the last year or so.
Buy with Confidence
Again, I benefit in zero ways if you buy anything from Vortex. I just know that when I’m considering making such a large purchase, I really want to know if I can count on that company to stand by their product. I can tell you with absolute confidence that Vortex will always come through if you ever have an issue. There are other companies who certainly make fine optics and probably have great warranties as well, but based on my personal experience with Vortex you’d be hard-pressed to convince me to hand my hard-earned money to anyone else for optics. So, if you’re shopping right now for a new piece of glass (or even a used piece, for that matter), make sure you give Vortex a real long look…you won’t be sorry!