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Review of Vortex Fury HD vs. Nikon Laserforce ED LRF Binoculars

Glassaholic

Optical theorist and conjecturer
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Minuteman
  • Nov 30, 2012
    8,086
    9,285
    Panhandle, FL
    One of these days I might actually write a blog, but for now I'm hoping to benefit the Hide by providing these reviews. For those of you who've read my stuff before, I am not a professional reviewer, I'm just an aficionado who loves to shoot and enjoys good gear and especially good glass; however, I'm not made of money and have to buy all the gear myself, since I'm not a professional blogger I don't have companies sending me product (but I would not be averse if any companies would like to offer); however, what I can tell you is that I try to be as honest and unbiased as possible when reviewing gear, so if I don't like something I'll say it without reservation, but I also realize I'm fallible and sometimes make mistakes, that's where the community comes in, so I encourage constructive criticism. Without further ado, let's get to the review...

    The Latest Budget LRF Binoculars


    Ranging – a bit of history
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    Back when I was in the Army we had trained with the M203 grenade launcher strapped to our M16 A2 rifles and the instructors would point to an object and tell us to do our best to hit it, no range was given and no tools were given to figure out the range, just guess was the prerogative, but what the instructors were looking for were soldiers who had good range estimation skills, sadly, I was not one of those soldiers as my range estimation was usually way off, but where I lacked in range estimation I made up for in precision, but what good does putting rounds in a tight group on a target mean if you can’t figure out how far away your target is? Therein lies the dilemma for many a shooter in the field, especially for hunters who desire to make the “ethical” shot, and so for years, the rule of thumb was “point blank range” and if you’re really good you could estimate holdover with a duplex reticle but even that was just guessing and you also had to guess the distance of your game, throw in wind and other atmospherics and you can see why not a lot of hunters wanted to take shots out at distance. I’ll leave the argument for what is “ethical” within the hunting community to others, but for our purposes I will give the definition as: the maximum range that you feel confident you can strike within the kill zone of your intended target with a cold bore shot. That “confidence” can come from lots of shooting and understanding your rifle and its ballistics, but “confidence” can also come from utilizing tools that will help us get the job done.

    The Mil Reticle
    The US Army decided it wanted to incorporate a range estimation tool for their Snipers and the mil dot reticle was born. Without going into too much detail about how mil reticles work they are basically a way to identify how far away a target is if you know the size of that target. The nice thing about mils is that 1 mil = 36” at 1000 yards, or 18” at 500 yards, or 9” at 250 yards all the way down to 3.6” at 100 yards or 72” at 2000 yards, you get the idea, it shrinks and grows with distance; therefore, if your intended target happens to be a 36” circle walking around out there and you put your reticle on it and see that it fills up exactly 1 mil, then you know that target is 1000 yards away, or if it fills up .5 mil then it’s at 500 yards distance and so forth. There are calculators and tools out which will help you figure out distance, but you first have to know the size of the object you’re milling and that’s where it can get tricky so unless you’re a math prodigy who can calculate numbers in his head faster than a calculator you may find yourself calculating yourself out of a shot because by the time you’ve figured it out your target has walked off.

    This handy little chart I found over on Long Range Hunting by a poster named Diamondback
    1525908814286.png


    The LRF
    But even with tools such as these you’re still guesstimating, not all targets are the same size, one Bull Elk may be smaller or bigger than the next Bull Elk and so forth. So how do we get an exact distance to our target regardless of its size? Enter the Laser Rangefinder (or LRF for short), these nifty little tools allow us to aim the device at the intended target and receive a reading back that will tell us how far away that object is, usually in yards or meters. LRF’s have been around for a while now and while the early models were clunky and could not function at long range distances (at least not accurately), the newer models can easily range targets such as big game well beyond 500 yards with accuracy down to +/- 1 yard. While most hunting and competition shooting occurs within 1000 yards, there has been an interest in ELR (Extreme Long Range) distances with shooting out to a mile and further of late. With LRF’s you basically pay for more distance, so the further out your go the more expensive the LRF device is going to be.

    My first LRF (Bushnell Yardage Pro 400) alongside my Steiner Military/Marine 8x30’s
    20180416_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0002.jpg


    Welcome to the new age – Minox 10x44 HD BL’s with Sig Kilo 2000
    20180416_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0003.jpg


    My first LRF was a Bushnell Yardage Pro 400 which, as its name implies, is supposed to be capable of ranging objects out to 400 yards, it was a decent unit and got the job done within its design limitations. Paired with my trusty Steiner Military/Marine 8x30 binos, this was a decent combination when I first started hunting big game in the 90’s, but a couple years ago I decided it was time for better equipment. The Sig Kilo 2000 was getting rave reviews at the time so decided to get that little wonder and ended up replacing the Steiners with a set of Minox BL 10x44 HD binoculars which are “clearly” better at glassing distant objects over the Steiners. But carrying around a set of binoculars and an LRF is kind of a pain, wouldn’t it be nice if there was such a thing as an LRF that is built into a set of binoculars.

    I’m not sure who was first, but the German and Austrian manufactures have “owned” the high end optics market for some time and have incorporated LRF’s into their Binoculars in the form of the Leica Geovid’s, Swarovski EL Range’s, Zeiss Victory RF’s and so forth, but these have always been units that break the $2k barrier which have put them out of reach for many shooters. In recent years however, Japanese manufactured optics have closed the gap considerably, and most notably the recent Japanese HD/ED glass has narrowed that margin even further. Last year (2017) two new LRF Binoculars were introduced: The Vortex Fury HD and the Nikon Laserforce ED, both are 10x42 roof prism designs which happen to be my preferred design for my hunting binoculars so I decided it was time to find out if one of these units could replace my one/two punch of the Sig Kilo and Minox BL’s. Why only the Nikon and Vortex and not the Bushnell 1 mile or a more expensive alternative, well quite simply because my budget would only allow for these two and I have looked through the Bushnell’s before and was somewhat underwhelmed by its optical performance, don’t get me wrong, it’s a fine unit and has represented the best bang for the buck when it comes to LRF binoculars, but I was hoping the new Nikon with its ED glass and the Vortex with its HD glass could open the door to a new level of performance at this price point. Both units retail for around $1200 with street prices now having dropped below that mark recently. Compared to the Leica, Zeiss or Swarovski units these are downright bargains.

    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0005.jpg


    Review continued in next post
     
    The Specs
    For comparison, here are the specs for both units as provided by the manufacturer:
    VortexFury_NikonLaserforce.jpg


    One thing to note is that each of these units have built in inclinometers, but each manufacturer comes up with a different marketing slogan for this feature, in essence this feature allows the units to make adjustments to the incline/decline from the shooter to the target and the displayed results are adjusted based on this angle; however, be careful as sometimes your ballistics program does a better job with its numbers if you simply input the angle instead of the adjusted distance, especially for calculating wind holds, so having your LRF give you “adjusted” distance may not be the best situation. Here are the clever names for this feature for the three LRF’s:
    • Sig Kilo 2000: AMR™ Angle Modified Range
    • Nikon Laserforce ED: Advanced ID
    • Vortex Fury HD: HCD – Horizontal Component Distance

    While the Sig Kilo 2000’s have a reflective range rating of 3400 yards, the Nikon Laserforce at 1900 yards and the Vortex Fury’s at 1600 yards, this usually does not translate the same with non-reflective objects like big game animals and that’s where it gets tricky, when you range that deer on the high mountain plain that has a bush 57 yards in front of it and a mountain side 170 yards behind it, is that distance seen in the LRF to the deer or to the bush or to the mountainside, did the LRF actually pickup what you were aiming at or was the beam divergence too broad to differentiate? I won’t pretend to tell you that I’m an expert when it comes to LRF’s and how they’re built, but what I do know is that the market has demanded better and better performance so when something new comes to market, the expectation is that the performance level supersedes the previous generation which is what I was hoping to see from these two new entries to the market.

    There have been other great reviews of LRF Binoculars in the past and I do not intend to replicate the detail that some reviewers have gone to, but my intention here is to put all 3 LRF’s through a cursory field test in order to determine how these units will perform as compared to one another. The baseline is the Sig Kilo 2000, it is several years old and is well documented on how good this little unit is so I’m hoping the Vortex and Nikon can give similar results. I will also say that my tests are based on the performance of the unit while I am hand holding because I want to replicate real world scenarios and while some of you may bring a tripod into the field, the reality is that most of us don’t (however, there are distinct advantages of tripod mounted shooting which makes the tripod have multiple uses but that is an article for another day) so when glassing an area we are usually in an unsupported position which will cause shake or wobble which can also be a factor in throwing off the ability of the LRF unit to yield an accurate result, or any result at all.

    Field Test I – Vortex Fury HD +0 vs Nikon Laserforce ED +1
    While I’d love to take a trek into the forest and use these on real animals in the wild, time just did not permit so I decided the next best thing to actual big game would be cattle and while a big 1000+ pound heifer is going to provide a larger target area than say a mule deer or antelope it does provide a good example of a grazing animal and may represent more the size of a large bull elk, so on a recent trip to the range I stopped off the side of the road near a large cattle ranch and began my testing there. For the images I used my Nikon D750 with 70-200 f/4 lens, each image with the values inserted was taken at 200mm which is equivalent to about 4x power so the actual view through the binoculars is 2.5x closer than what you see in the image, the backed off image is at 70mm which is about 1.4x so a little closer than what you’d experience with the naked eye. Since pictures are worth a thousand words I’ll let the below images speak for themselves:

    The first cow I decided to range was what I thought might be close to 1000 yards away when in fact they were just over 900 yards away (which is why we use tools to measure long distances) and not my faulty guesstimation techniques

    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0001.jpg


    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0001a.jpg


    The next group I decided to range were somewhat off in a gully but closer in with more background at play which might throw off the results:
    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0002.jpg


    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0002a.jpg


    Since the Vortex could not yield a measurement at the 900 yard mark, I decided to see if ranging a tree nearby a group of cows could yield a result because if the animal you’re ranging won’t give a consistent or accurate result then look for something nearby that might:
    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0003.jpg


    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0003a.jpg


    For my final test I decided to range something a little closer but a little more challenging, so I found a clump of cholla cactus there were fairly close together but at different distances:
    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0004.jpg


    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0004a.jpg


    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0006.jpg


    Review continued in next post
     
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    Field Test II – Vortex Fury HD +1 vs Nikon Laserforce ED +1
    A few days later I was driving my son to work in Black Forest and decided to bring along the LRF’s since we regularly get Antelope grazing nearby and they did not disappoint, I figure antelope are a great test for these units because they are pretty small in stature, this was also a day that I received the Vortex Universal Binocular mount so I could get some through the glass images of each unit, normally I like to use my Nikon DSLR for these but binoculars have such small eye relief that I could not get the lens close enough for a clear shot, so I had to go with my iPhone SE for the images.

    In the below image the little dot on the left side was a single antelope grazing on the side of the hill while the multiple dots on the right side were a cluster of several antelope together on the flat meadow. There were times if I wasn’t pretty steady that each LRF would pick up a different number either in front of or behind the lone antelope; however, I believe this was more an issue with my ability to keep the units steady while trying to get a reading off a smaller critter at distance. On this day and at these distances with the antelope all 3 LRF’s did an outstanding job.
    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0001-2.jpg


    Since I had my tripod and universal mount I decided to do some through the glass images using my iPhone SE:
    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0003.jpg




    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0004.jpg


    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0005.jpg


    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0006.jpg


    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0001.jpg


    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0002.jpg


    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0009.jpg


    One of the first things I noticed was the distinct blueish color cast from the Vortex, Nikon and Sig while the Minox maintained a more natural warm color cast. This is not the first time I’ve seen this and have noticed this phenomenon with other non-German glass. I am not certain if it matters where the glass is sourced or manufactured but it has been something I have observed.

    Review continued in next post
     
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    First Impressions – Vortex Fury HD +1 vs Nikon Laserforce ED +0
    Both binoculars look like they came off the same manufacturing line with very similar specs; however, the Fury feels like it has a bit beefier rubberized armoring, the armoring seems a bit gummy for my taste and picked up too much dog hair and dust from being set down. The Laserforce is standard black while the Fury is an olive drab. The Laserforce is listed at 1900 yards while the Fury is 1600 yards, for most real world scenarios these will be more than adequate. Both sets come with flimsy caps that could be designed better, both come with a case but the Laserforce is a pretty plain lightweight case that will stay home when the binocular is taken into the field while the Vortex case is a nice tan case with hardy strap points that I could see taking into the field with the unit. Diopters on both are twist type and very easy to set; however, I would prefer a bit more resistance so they don’t easily get pushed back in.

    20180416_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0004.jpg


    Ergonomics – Vortex Fury HD -1 vs Nikon Laserforce ED -1
    Both binoculars look like they had the same designer for the button layout, they are in pretty much exactly the same place. Both sets have flush mount buttons with tiny raised letters which are fine in normal weather with bare hands, but for those of us who shoot in the cold with gloved hands, we are going to find it very difficult to find the buttons and press them. I think I’ll buy a little rubber cabinet door stop set at a hardware store and glue them to the main buttons so I have something more tactile to press when wearing gloves.
    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0007.jpg


    Display – Vortex Fury HD +1 vs Nikon Laserforce ED +0
    Neither unit were what I would call daylight bright so when using in bright sunlight the readout is difficult to see; however, they were just bright enough to be usable, I’d prefer a brighter display, that being said I would say the Vortex has the edge with its top brightness setting where I was able to see the display more clearly than the Nikon (at its brightest setting) in bright conditions. The Sig has a feature that adjusts the brightness of the display depending on the brightness level of the environment, but neither the Nikon Laserforce nor the Vortex Fury have this feature so you find you have to manually adjust when the light levels change.
    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0007.jpg


    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0008.jpg


    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0010.jpg


    Optical Quality – Vortex Fury HD +0 vs Nikon Laserforce ED +0
    Nothing stirs up more debate in the optics community than glass. We all seem to be very particular about glass and the IQ (Image quality) of any given optical design be it a riflescope, binoculars, telescope, camera lens and well, anything that has a group of glass lenses inside it. I have done numerous scope reviews in the past and there are 6 primary areas I focus on in determining how good the glass looks to my eyes, they are:
    • Resolution
    • Color
    • Contrast
    • CA (Chromatic Aberration)
    • Edge to edge clarity (is the image as sharp at the edges as it is in the center)
    • Eyebox (an often misinterpreted measure that many get confused with eye relief, put simply, I define eyebox as the ability to be able to quickly get behind an optic and get a good sight picture, if I have to move my position a lot then that would be a poor eyebox but if that sight picture fills the FOV without much effort that is a good eyebox.)

    To be honest, the Nikon and Vortex are so close in IQ with one another that I could not decipher a clear winner in this area. Resolution was really good and contrast was handled admirably while both suffered a bit from CA which grew worse toward the edges. Edge to edge clarity was okay and eyebox was decent. My biggest gripe with both these units is the color, they have a distinct bluish cast to the image while I prefer the warmer image of the Minox and other European glass.

    The image below shows side by side so you can see the difference in color cast.
    20180407_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_Comparison.jpg


    Review continued on next post
     
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    Conditions
    One thing to realize with these LRF’s is that their sensitivity/accuracy can be altered by conditions, bright afternoon sun, rain, snow, etc. so keep that in mind. On one day of my testing I ranged a sheet metal building at just over 1500 yards, but the very next day during heavy overcast conditions, I could not get a reading on the same building from the same previous spot.

    And lest you think the Sig Kilo is perfect, there was a situation where I attempted to get a reading off the side of a house at just over 500 yards and the Sig could never give me a result while the Vortex HD had no problem; not sure if it was a condition thing or beam divergence or what but this was the first time the Sig did not yield at least something back.
    20180413_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0001.jpg


    Conclusion:
    • Vortex Fury HD – best budget oriented LRF Binocular
    • Nikon Laserforce – longest range budget oriented LRF Binocular
    Keep in mind this is my personal opinion after spending multiple days with these units in the field. If Sig were to make an LRF Binocular I think they would easily take more of a market share than they already have, their LRF technology is really stellar and the features they pack into their little LRF bodies were obviously designed by someone who uses these tools in the field. For the Vortex Fury and Nikon Laserforce, resolution wise these units are pretty stunning for their price, they could improve edge to edge clarity and definitely the color cast as I’d like to see warmer tones similar to what Minox and other German/Austrian optics bring. In regard to LRF performance, I think we see very good performance within the limitations of each manufacturers specs, the Sig Kilo goes out the furthest, followed by the Nikon and then the Vortex. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Vortex and I think they are worth keeping an eye on going into 2019. Nikon has been hit and miss with their sport optics division but they seem to finally be listening to what the consumer is looking for. If you are wanting a good quality LRF Binocular set and your budget is around the $1k price point then the Vortex Fury and Nikon Laserforce are definitely worth consideration, but I would not say these units are ready to compete against the likes of Leica, Zeiss or Swarovski, the big 3 still offer the best of the best but of course, quality comes at a price, and in this case that price is close to 3x the cost of the Vortex and Nikon.


    20180330_Kilo-Fury-Laserforce_0008.jpg


    End of Review
     
    This was the review I was waiting for. Thank you for all your time and effort for doing this review. I've already decided on the Vortex Fury but after reading your review I think a couldn't go wrong if I went it either of them.
     
    This was the review I was waiting for. Thank you for all your time and effort for doing this review. I've already decided on the Vortex Fury but after reading your review I think a couldn't go wrong if I went it either of them.
    Thanks M I appreciate that. Yes, that's how I feel, that you can't go wrong either way. Neither of them are perfect, but both are more than capable within their given limitations. For me personally, I would like something "more" as I'd like to see a model with improved glass, something closer to my Minox BL's would be sufficient, if Vortex came out with an AMG version or a Razor HD version that corrected the color and improved edge to edge clarity but was able to come in near the $2k price point, I think that is the unit I'm looking for, but I'm very particular about my glass and think the Nikon and Vortex will serve a lot of shooters very well. Something else I forgot to mention in my review is the warranty, if I understand it correctly the Vortex VIP lifetime covers the Fury HD for both mechanical and electrical for life, which is something no other manufacturer offers as they all have limitations on the electronics.
     
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    Very glad to see this review. I’ve been looking at both of these LRF Binos to replace my Sig Kilo 2000 and Nikon Monarch 7 Binos . It can be a pain in the ass hauling both units around while hunting, and I think one of these would be a good solution. Thanks again for a very informative review!!!
     
    @wjm308 be careful what you wish for sir as Sig is indeed releasing a RF bino which I have anxiously been waiting for. At its at the same price point as these 2 units.
     
    @wjm308 be careful what you wish for sir as Sig is indeed releasing a RF bino which I have anxiously been waiting for. At its at the same price point as these 2 units.
    They are? I hadn't seen any info on that, they have a press release somewhere? Thanks for sharing noob. Maybe 2019 will be the year of integrated LRF Binos in the under $3k range with some impressive glass.
     
    They are? I hadn't seen any info on that, they have a press release somewhere? Thanks for sharing noob. Maybe 2019 will be the year of integrated LRF Binos in the under $3k range with some impressive glass.

    Yea they are due out August-September of this year.
     
    Yea they are due out August-September of this year.
    How did I miss that - KILO3000BDX rangefinder binocular. Looks like they'll start at $1200 so I'm guessing the glass will probably be the same Japanese HD with that bluish cast that the Vortex and Nikon exhibit. I'm hoping for something with an improvement in glass but still at the $2k barrier. I decided to sell the Fury HD's and wait for what comes of 2019, hoping for better glass but still not break the bank with the Leica/Zeiss/Swarovski; however, I'm wondering if I should hold onto the Fury's and see if I can get a deal on the Sigs to do a comparison of those two...

    Here's a pic of the Sigs from Sportoptics.com

    1526416371339.png
     
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    Is the bluish tint due to the fact that they are Laser range finders? I've always wondered if the bluish tint was there for a reason on LRF's, as I've seen it on almost all LRF's. Eye protection from the laser perhaps?
     
    Is the bluish tint due to the fact that they are Laser range finders? I've always wondered if the bluish tint was there for a reason on LRF's, as I've seen it on almost all LRF's. Eye protection from the laser perhaps?
    I doubt it but can’t say for sure since I haven’t tested a German/Austrian LRF, I ordered a Sig Kilo 3000BDX but don’t think I can swing a Leica or the new Zeiss as well, but am very curious about the color cast. Why certain Japanese glass has the bluish cast I cannot say, is it the actual glass, is it the multi coating? I do not know, but I can say the original Bushnell DMR also suffered from the bluish color while the new DMR II does not so it is something that can be corrected it would appear.
     
    I have a set of the FURY HD rangefinding bino's (through work). I read with interest your review. I didn't recall any obvious tinting of the image.
    I went out to look through the pair that I have and a bluish tint was not evident in mine.
    Of course, that means nothing, my old eyes might not be picking up on it, or they changed the coatings, we did an agency order directly through vortex and had to wait around 6 months to get them, they were very back logged.
    They are definitely dandy units.
     
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    I have a set of the FURY HD rangefinding bino's (through work). I read with interest your review. I didn't recall any obvious tinting of the image.
    I went out to look through the pair that I have and a bluish tint was not evident in mine.
    Of course, that means nothing, my old eyes might not be picking up on it, or they changed the coatings, we did an agency order directly through vortex and had to wait around 6 months to get them, they were very back logged.
    They are definitely dandy units.
    It is not something you will typically see just looking through the pair, our eyes are very quick to correct. Some people might be able to tell looking through a cool pair and then immediately a warm pair or vice versa. To my eyes, the optics that have a bluish tint do not "look" as good as optics with a warmer tint in low light situations, in regular "good" light it would be very difficult to distinguish between the two. I'm not saying that Japanese glass is inferior, I'm simply saying it has characteristics that make it a cooler (blue) image whereas German glass tends to yield a warmer (yellow) image.
     
    The resolution of the leica's is unreal. everything is so vivid, no color change like others. I've had them a few years, and am still impressesed every time I use them.
     
    Well Vortex did it, they read my review and came out with the brand new Fury 5000 HD with 5000 yds reflective range and 1600 for Deer!!!

    Update: More specs from Kopfjager1
    beam divergence is 1.5 x 0.1 mRad horizontal oval. Which is a lot smaller than Sigs 2400 ABS at 1.3 mRad and Leicas HD-B at 2.7 x 1.0 mRad and similar to Vectronix Terrapin at 1.2 x 0.5 mRad.

    http://www.vortexoptics.com/product/vortex-fury-hd-5000-10x42-binocular
     

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    I'm interested in the Fury HD 5000. The Sig Kilo3000BDX is nice with Bluetooth, but not really needed.

    Would live to see a review of the FuryHD5K (Made in China or Japan?). I currently am using a Sig Kilo 2K and it works great.

    For hunting, I think the FuryHD5K would be better. One less thing to carry.