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Sig Kilo 3000 vs Vortex Fury 5000 AB

ColtSAA.45

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Oct 18, 2017
79
37
Beaufort, SC
I know these threads pop up all the time. I've been reading a lot of them and reviews on both of these rangefinder binoculars. Most of the threads focus on the Sig kilo 3000 vs the standard vortex fury (non-ab) because of the comparable price. EuroOptic has a deal right now where the Kilo 3000 is priced at $800 and the Fury 5000 AB is $900. Being the prices are so similar, would the Fury 5000 AB be the better choice? The primary use would be for big game hunting and shooting steel. Also the Leica Geovid R is $1200. I love Leica's but it seems the features aren't comparable to the vortex or sig in the price range.
 
If getting the Sigs, I’d get the 6K. Euro had “open box” units available a couple weeks ago for around $900.

The 6K have a better laser, better on-board connectivity (Kestrel, Tactix, etc), and the glass seems to be comparable or even a little better than the 3000BDX.

I have no experience with the Fury’s other than looking through a few sets… but if people complain about the Sig glass, I can’t imagine what they’d say about the Fury’s.
 
Sig 10k glass is like looking into a swimming pool with a blue liner.

With that said, I’ve never looked through the other sig offerings.

I have fury’s with AB. They connect and play nice with the kestrel. You can skip the kestrel entirely if you’re smart enough to come up with a 9 or 3 o’clock wind value on your own.

I see no reason to own binos that don’t range and give dope. Especially while hunting. See the animal range and get a come up in one step, apply your wind correction based on gun number and send it.
 
Are you saying the sig glass is superior to the fury?
I've had a chance to compare the 2 directly on a few separate occasions, and to my eyes, the Sig has a definite edge in sharpness over the Fury 5000.
 
Actually has nothing to do with sharpness or clarity for me… everyone complains about the “blue tint” in the Sigs, but the Fury units that I’ve used had it far worse than any of the Sigs.

I think some of that perception is actually based on the Sig 10k, which I haven’t had a chance to put hands on, but for me, the Fury had a noticeable tint to them that was not super pleasant to look through.

The 3000BDX and 6K don’t exhibit those same characteristics, at least to my eyes.
 
I've got Sig K3000 and Vortex Fury 5000AB. I use the Vortex all the time now, haven't used the Sigs in a long while. I'll have to compare the glass side by side to see if I actually prefer one to the other but for my eyes, they both work. Not "alpha" glass but plenty good for my uses (hunting, NRL Hunter, field matches). Whereas with the Sigs I never used the onboard AB Ultralite (since it's limited to 800 yards) and always just paired it to my Kestrel, I never pair the Fury's to my Kestrel and just use the on board AB Elite. As much as the Sigs worked great for me, you had to constantly make sure they were synced to the Kestrel as they would frequently drop connection, was not the end of the word and was manageable but it's just nicer not to have to worry about that with the Furys. Furthermore the Fury's input DOF which starts making a difference when you're shooting way out there. I don't use the wind feature on the Furys (just use my gun number) but it's nice to have if you choose to use it. The long and the short of it is that the Sigs are great but the Furys are easily worth an extra $100 in my eye.
 
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If your AB engine platform is the Kestrel, the only real plus of the Fury against the Sigs is the compass, IMHO. Still thinkering about the replacement of my 3000BDX with a 5000AB, not sure whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Glass are both non-alpha...so maybe the answer I give myself is Leica 3200 Geovid or go be poor somewhere else.
 
I also have the Sig 3000 and Vortex Fury 5000 AB. Another major difference is the warranty. The Sigs should be considered disposable, because when the electronics die you might as well toss them. You won’t want to keep them just for the glass. With the Vortex you’ve got the lifetime warranty as well as the better ballistic calculator. There are also plenty of times / conditions when you really don’t need a Kestrel, so why not have everything in one unit with the Vortex without having to have another device to pair with the full AB system.
 
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This is the shit that confuses me with their binos. So everything except the electronics are covered for life?

IMG_9799.jpeg
 
Pretty sure that's the idea (to confuse people). My understanding is that the 5 years of electronics coverage starts from the date of manufacturer and not the date of purchase, so if they sat on the shelf for a few years you could have almost no or no electronics warranty at all.

Just confirmed that on this page of their website:


Click on Electro Optics and scroll down.

"SIG SAUER warrants that the electronic and tritium components of the enclosed product were originally manufactured free of defects in workmanship, material, and mechanical function. For a period of five (5) years from the date of manufacture,"
 
Im looking at vortex as well for the warranty. Sigs warranty kinda screwed me before on a year old rangefinder that died but the manufacturer date was out of warranty. I’ve been kinda sour on sigs since then.
 
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I forgot to update this thread:

I went with the vortex fury AB. I couldn’t be happier! I’ve shot out to around 700 recently and the ballistics data was spot on on both a 6.5 creed and 223. Glass is very good, not quite up to Leica or Swarovski level but still very good. The wind tool is easy to use and I’ve played around with it a bunch. I haven’t had to use it shooting yet but hopefully I can get out on a windy day to put it through it’s paces.

Price delivered was around $970 after the vortex discount, shipping and sales tax.
 
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I have been paying close attention to the Fury HD as I might be in the market for it or similar. If I could get someone to please chime in about the clarity out at distances. I have read that some claim they can spot and call shots easily out to 1000 yards with this model. I was hoping someone can verify that to be true or not.
 
I have been paying close attention to the Fury HD as I might be in the market for it or similar. If I could get someone to please chime in about the clarity out at distances. I have read that some claim they can spot and call shots easily out to 1000 yards with this model. I was hoping someone can verify that to be true or not.
They are pretty decent glass, but 10x is hard to spot impacts at 1000 yards no matter what glass it has. General consensus is that the furys have better glass than the 3ks
 
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I've had both and sold the sigs. I think the glass is slightly better in the Vortex, and having all the sensors built in along with entering your wind through the device is much easier.

I also sold my kestrel and simply carry a cheap wind meter with me if I need to get an exact measurement in higher winds. Typically, I just do the 3 or 9 buttons and estimate a correction.
 
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Much appreciate the answers from you guys. Since this is a fairly expensive purchase I obviously want to do my research and apply my money to the best possible choice.
 
I finally settled on the Vortex Fury 5000. I got it yesterday and have been messing with it a bit. From everything I see I think I'll be very happy with my purchase. I really appreciate everyone's input to me in this thread.
 
I bought a pair of the left over sigs from optics planet. It may be a sample of one but the have far better glass than several of the vortex ab that my friends have. Side by Side comparison with 3 different Vortex AB and they are very noticeably better. But they are also better than other sigs I have looked thru so I think I got lucky.
 
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