Description
Viper HD binoculars are an optical masterpiece, giving hunters, shooters and outdoor enthusiasts a great option. The HD optical system delivers stunning resolution, color fidelity and edge-to-edge clarity. These are one of the lightest, most compact, full-size binos on the market: a noteworthy attribute when gear consideration can be measured in grams. Includes GlassPak chest harness, keeping your binos at the ready while providing comfortable, protected, strain-free, all-day carry.
From the brand
From the manufacturer
Viper HD 10×42 Roof Prism Binocular (V201)
The Viper HD – Premium optics and rugged construction in a tremendously compact, lightweight package – What more could you need? Well, perhaps a quality chest harness to comfortably and securely carry your investment in the field, but that’s included, too! Hunters, shooters and outdoor enthusiasts alike are sure to benefit from the high performance of the Viper HD binoculars.
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Lens Care
Jordon Thelen –
Optic worth the moneyWas very skeptical on dropping this amount of money on a pair of binoculars. But after looking through them just once I do not regret a thing, totally worth it. Crystal clear. Quality product
Amazon Customer –
Awesome viewAwesome binoculars! Great zoom capability. Best I’ve ever owned
Brian J. –
Great opticsI love Vortex. Great optics . Fast and easy to use. Perfect!
Rob –
Great Binoculars!A really great set of binoculars. I have been using mine heavily for birding for the last year and a half.Pros: They have great glass that is very clear and bright. They fit well in my hands. The build quality is excellent and durable. They basically look and feel exactly like the day I bought them, maybe a little patina on the rubber armor. I don’t really care for the special case they come with and not many other seem to use it. The binoculars really feel durable enough that a case doesn’t feel needed. I have kept mine in the truck through blazing hot summer days and freezing cold nights with no apparent distress. The locking diopter is nice because you set it once and forget about it for life. The rain caps and lens covers both work well, are durable and easy to use. There is absolutely zero backlash in the focus wheel, which makes focus precision better.Cons: The eye cups could use stronger detent. I use mine fully extended because I don’t wear glasses and I frequently find the view messed up due to one of the eye cups retracting to another setting. This is really annoying when you are trying to get that real quick view of a rare bird and have to stop to fix the eye cup. The focus wheel has (I presume) some kind of damping fluid in it. At cold temps, this fluid becomes very viscous and makes the wheel very tough to turn. This issue is compounded by wearing gloves and losing grip. The neck strap connection to the binoculars comes loose at the adjustment buckle, I’ve moved to an aftermarket strap. I’ve looked at the high end binoculars in the Vortex line and have not noticed that these mechanical issues have been fixed.
Tom Tomlinson –
Good Value for the priceThe Vortex 10×50 binoculars are a good value for the money. As a long time user of only vintage premium German binoculars, I decided to try something else. The resolution and brightness seems better than my 1970s vintage Leitz 7×42 Trinovid. I did not want to spend the money for modern German high quality binoculars, and my hope was that the 40 years of technology advancement in the modern Vortex binoculars would outweigh the high German quality of the 1970s. It appears that it does. There are two things that I do not like about the Vortex. The eye cups are hard plastic. I have gotten used to the soft rubber eye cups on the Leitz. After several hours of constant use, my eye orbits get sore from the contact with the hard cups. Also, the Vortex are almost collapsed to the limit to match my pupil spacing. I would have liked to see a little more adjustment on the extreme close setting. I do like the locking focus adjustment on the RH side. My Leitz are always going out of focus on the differential setting as the differential knob is easily turned while using.
M. Curtis –
Nice, but not as good as my Diamondback HDI just received my Viper HD 10×42, and I’ve spent the last 3 hours sitting outside, trying to convince myself that these are better than my Diamondback HD 10×42. Unfortunately, I just can’t see any significant improvement.I’ll start by saying, I believe you get what you pay for, and quality isn’t cheap. I appreciate quality, and am willing to pay extra for it. I am a hobbyist photographer, and have thousands of dollars in fast, f/2.8 professional lenses. I understand what a difference quality glass makes in a lens. The Viper HD definitely feel like they are high quality. Compared to the Diamondback HD, they feel more robust. You can tell they used better materials, and likely better glass. The ocular lenses are beefier than the ones in the diamondback HD. Unfortunately, that’s where the praise ends.The image quality is superb, with very little chromatic aberration and only slight cyan and magenta color fringing in high contrast edges. One glaringly disappointing issue is just that… Glare. The huge ocular lens group is very reflective, and readily reflects light bouncing off my eyes, or leaking in around the gap around my eyes. It’s not as noticeable in very bright scenes, but if you’re looking at a shaded area, and you have anything bright beside or behind you, you get glare in the image that makes the image degrade. This is absolutely not an issue with my Diamondback HD. The Viper HD is in serious need of large, sealing rubber eye cups. It’s like the ocular lens is a big crystal ball that pulls in light from every angle. I tried to show the difference in my images. You can clearly see the large reflections around the edges compared to the Diamondback ones.Overall, the internal reflections are a deal breaker. Especially when I have none with the cheaper Diamondback HD.Another issue I have is it seems like the barrels aren’t properly aligned. Even when I set the diopter for my right eye, there’s just something about the resolution of fine detail that is off. Like my eyes have to strain to put two images together. Maybe I got a defective binoc, but either way, these are going back. Even without the annoying reflections and slight eye strain, the image quality difference isn’t worth $300 (150% more) than the Diamondback HD. I wish the build quality was the same. That would make it a no brainer, but even after typing up all these issues, I’m still trying to convince myself to keep the “nicer, more expensive” model. Unfortunately the negatives outweigh the positives. On the bright side, I save myself $500, since I already spent $220 on the Diamondback HD.
Chris –
Great productAwesomw
DJ Howerzyl –
Great binocularsI love them
First Tram –
Nice Mid GradeI really like the Vortex lineup. I have another pair of binoculars, and a spotting scope. All great products. I bought these for a second pair and did not need to buy another top of the line pair. They do everything well. I am a wildlife photographer and do a lot of spotting and watching. I let others look through them and they can’t believe the quality. I cannot justify swarovski. I do not make enough money from photography to justify. These cut through the heat waves almost as well. They view deep into the dusk, but not even close to using the spotting scope. I use them often enough to justify the price. They will last a life time. I take care of my equipment and there is almost nothing to wear out. Razor HD is a better pair if you really only need one binocular. Can’t go wrong with Vortex. My only complaint for these or any other binocular is the cheap eye cap cover.
Cell User –
Very pleased with VortexMy second pair of Vortex Binoculars – great value, excellent optics and great customer service. I recommned for birding.