Vortex Optics Rangefinders - 2024 Forum Member Review

[PrismFlopper]

So let’s talk about first impressions of the Vortex Blade Slope! This version of the Vortex rangefinders is the middle of the rode range finder as far as their pricing of about $399. This price meets the average rangefinder prices but by no means skimps on any features! Vortex has big features packed into this model: from a industry standard of a 6x zoom so you can get accurate close in visuals of the pin, a pin-spotter feature, Slope mode to get get a pin point accurate number on those contours of the hole, accuracy to within one yard, and clear view optics!

 

 

 

 

The weight is fantastic! The weight of the rangefinder itself rests at 6.5 oz with a battery load weight or 6.6 oz making for a 0.1 oz difference which is negligible in your hand while keeping the weight balanced.

 

 

The size of the Vortex Blade Slope is really going to be subjective to every person while also allowing comfort no matter the hand size. Also hand size for most should not be impeded in the use of the rangefinder. With grips on either side to keep it securely in your hands. The size according to Vortex spec sheets is 3.9” length, 3” height, with about 1.5” width. This makes this a very good size to fit in almost any pocket in your bag if you so desire to not keep in in the carrying case attached to the outside of your bag. Carrying case has a zipper and bungee cord wrap for quick and easy use if your carrying the bag when not using the magnetic outside of the finder to attach. It your pushcart or golf cart.

The aesthetics of this Vortex blade slope really keep the features packed into a uncluttered package . The look is really something to behold and something I hope can be relayed in some of my photos. The main body is almost like an OD green/ tan color with the eye piece and top line in black. The buttons are large and are perfect to make sure you aren’t fumbling with the top of the rangefinder to locate the button you want to range the pin. The range button which is closest to where your index finger lies, is where you will find the “measure” button approx 3/4x 3/4 inches while the menu button lays in front of that at approx 1/2” x 1/2”, and there is no mistaking those buttons with your fingers. Battery compartment is low on the eye piece side with helps keep the weight to the back( we will talk about the weight in a minute. Two green lights on the front on either side of the rangefinder. These are perfect for when in use of the Slope feature will light up BRIGHT, this helps in the ideals of being tournament legal for when the slope feature is turned off the lights will not light up. No one will mistake the lights for being on of or off in debate if you are using the feature. Having a menu button on the top that allows you to shut off the pin spotter feature or any other customizable feature means no need for those dials on the side, there is no accidentally flipping a switch or changing a feature during use or storage.

The optics specs. You will be able to customize the reticle or the shape of the crosshairs into 3 different shapes that help to dial in to your own visuals. Vortex states that the 6x zoom can get you to an accuracy rate of about 1 yd. There is a focus on the rear optic lens that allows for people of all varying eye sights to really dial in and have the best visual experience. The optics have be a pin spotter feature that allows for you to instantaneously know when the rangefinder locates the pin with haptic feedback or in layman’s terms it vibrates when it locates the pin. The range finder vibrates just like your average phone would, leaves you knows what you’re trying to range and what the rangefinder sees are spot on! The pin spotter has a range of about 350 yds while the rangefinder itself can Range out to about up to 1400 yards! Minimum range is 6 yards making sure you have accuracy in those annoying green side bunkers or can give you slope reading of a green on a long putt. You will be able to switch between yards and meters to the point that you choose and make the best shot from there!

 

Edited July 8 by PrismFlopper

[KC Golf]

6 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

I have shaky hands these days and was really struggling with my Pro L2 unless I was sitting and/or braced against something. So far, I've found the stabilization on the Anarch to work well. It's not always on, so it activates when you fire a distance. You hear it "activate" and then immediately see the image stabilize. It's not like the cameras the guys are carrying while they walk the courses on the PGA Tour (but nothing will be), but it gets the job done well. I haven't put it to the test other than just using it with my shaky hands to this point. I'll have to add that to my list.

That’s great to hear.  Perhaps since you are a little shakey, perhaps you can try seeing if it will get a correct distance for the pin from the tee box on a shorter par 4?  Since the shakier you are will have more impact on greater distances.  

Both of your reviews on the Anarch seem really encouraging!  Thanks for all the feedback!  
 

[Shrek74]

3 minutes ago, KC Golf said:

That’s great to hear.  Perhaps since you are a little shakey, perhaps you can try seeing if it will get a correct distance for the pin from the tee box on a shorter par 4?  Since the shakier you are will have more impact on greater distances.  

Both of your reviews on the Anarch seem really encouraging!  Thanks for all the feedback!  
 

I'll think through the holes here for any that might work.

I did use it more than a few times yesterday getting ranges in the 250-270 range without issue. But I'll see if I can come up with some holes for longer ranging.

[sirchunksalot]

1 hour ago, KC Golf said:

That’s great to hear.  Perhaps since you are a little shakey, perhaps you can try seeing if it will get a correct distance for the pin from the tee box on a shorter par 4?  Since the shakier you are will have more impact on greater distances.  

Both of your reviews on the Anarch seem really encouraging!  Thanks for all the feedback!  
 

I don't think I ranged a flag from the tee box yesterday, but did get the yardage on a couple of second shots on par 5's and only had issues on one of them where I had a tree in line with the pin. I did go for the back marker on the range which was over 270 from where I was standing behind the mats and didn't have an issue. 

I also wanted to test out the range of just measuring long distances and shot a barn on the par 5 6th that was over 520 yards away and got an accurate reading. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

2 hours ago, KC Golf said:

That’s great to hear.  Perhaps since you are a little shakey, perhaps you can try seeing if it will get a correct distance for the pin from the tee box on a shorter par 4?  Since the shakier you are will have more impact on greater distances.  

Both of your reviews on the Anarch seem really encouraging!  Thanks for all the feedback!  
 

I have the Anarch and have ranged flags from 400+ yard Par 4s for fun with no issue. I will test it out on a Par 5 on our front nine tomorrow that is straight enough to see the flag from the tee box 

[KC Golf]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_KFT said:

I have the Anarch and have ranged flags from 400+ yard Par 4s for fun with no issue. I will test it out on a Par 5 on our front nine tomorrow that is straight enough to see the flag from the tee box 

This Anarch is hitting it out of the park so far from everything I am reading from the Testers!  Great to hear all the initial reviews.

[GolfSpy_KFT]

27 minutes ago, KC Golf said:

This Anarch is hitting it out of the park so far from everything I am reading from the Testers!  Great to hear all the initial reviews.

It really is a fantastic piece of equipment. I’ve had no negatives with it whatsoever to this point 

[justsay937]

Looking forward to seeing the results posted by the testing group. I currently have several hunting Vortex items that serve me well.

[TSauer]

Great stuff so far, fellas! Very cool to see that Vortex sent y'all a swag bag and a personalized note from their team, that is always a nice touch!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

4 minutes ago, TSauer said:

Great stuff so far, fellas! Very cool to see that Vortex sent y'all a swag bag and a personalized note from their team, that is always a nice touch!

One other thing I love about the included goodies is they call it a "Flight Pack" 

Just one more thing for me to nerd about 

[Shrek74]

8 minutes ago, TSauer said:

Great stuff so far, fellas! Very cool to see that Vortex sent y'all a swag bag and a personalized note from their team, that is always a nice touch!

Yeah, it's some really nice stuff. The ball markers are solid and I'm really digging the repair tool (see what I did there). I've used the same Titleist US Open tool forever it feels like, but I think I have a new one now.

[TSauer]

44 minutes ago, GolfSpy_KFT said:

One other thing I love about the included goodies is they call it a "Flight Pack" 

Just one more thing for me to nerd about 

I like that! Vortex is earning brownie points left and right.

[TJ Hall]

All of the extras Vortex included is quite a nice touch!

[GolfSpy_KFT]

2 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

Yeah, it's some really nice stuff. The ball markers are solid and I'm really digging the repair tool (see what I did there). I've used the same Titleist US Open tool forever it feels like, but I think I have a new one now.

The divot tool rocks. I also like that they include a few different ball markers. Currently using the "Bet On It" marker to try to inspire some confidence in my putting 

[sirchunksalot]

4 hours ago, TSauer said:

Great stuff so far, fellas! Very cool to see that Vortex sent y'all a swag bag and a personalized note from their team, that is always a nice touch!

I thought it was a nice touch and the personalized card signed by the team really meant a lot. I love the hat, I'm usually picky about them because I have a larger head and it fits perfectly. The divot tool is solid and holds the ball marker like a divot tool should, I'm still disappointed in the one I bought at RNK since the magnet and tool didn't hold the marker well and I lost it. 

They really went above and beyond. 

[PrismFlopper]

On 7/9/2024 at 11:28 AM, justsay937 said:

Looking forward to seeing the results posted by the testing group. I currently have several hunting Vortex items that serve me well.

Have always used their hunting scopes and they are absolutely fantastic. I expect this will be in the same area of excellence.

[PrismFlopper]

Got out there and was finally able to get out on the course and start to put this beautiful Vortex Blade Slope through some testing. So keep this in mind that there was quite a bit of user error when messing around with it. So let’s talk about the day and how it went. Firstly it was a 92 degrees and I believe the weather app said anywhere between 85-90% humidity, gross I know but I was so excited I had to get out there. I was dehydrated so I did have trouble with shaken hands and I think that’s what I think caused a few issues I had, so I’m going to hold that until I can test a little more under better conditions. This rangefinder does not have an image stabilizer but I saw above that the vortex anarch does! 
The optics on this are fantastic! If you’ve ever had any optics by Vortex then you will not be disappointed, clear and crisp from edge to edge none of the blur. I’m going to try to get a picture through the sight when I get a chance. For anyone with less that perfect vision there is a focus dial on the rear of the rangefinder to help get dialed. Also I was pleased to see that with sunglasses there was no troubles looking through the optics. 
 I have large hands being 6’4 I was a little worried that the size might feel odd in my hands and it absolutely did not. I was able to locate the buttons without any fuss. 
When using the pin spotter feature I have to explain what I think I’m seeing. It is that when I press the measure button on a specific object you see a blinking segmented ring around the crosshairs and after a second(probably less than a second) you will get the number and at the same time you can feel the rangefinder vibrate. 
The magnetic side is INCREDIBLE! Even when I barely stuck it on there it didn’t fall off! When it was barely attached by my own doing it rotated on the post to stick better. I hit a few shots into the woody area and brought the cart for a real joy ride through the woods. And never fell of or even slipped from where I placed it.

Some more testing to do! Let me know if any questions come up that I can help answer!
 

[Shrek74]

We have a Zoom with Vortex tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully after that we'll have a better feel for the rangefinders as a whole and their various pieces and parts, as well as a few nuggets to test on (I know I have a couple tests I want to run). More to come soon.

[TJ Hall]

15 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

We have a Zoom with Vortex tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully after that we'll have a better feel for the rangefinders as a whole and their various pieces and parts, as well as a few nuggets to test on (I know I have a couple tests I want to run). More to come soon.

Awesome to hear the direct involvement of the OEM!  Looking forward to hearing the outcome of the call!

[Hosel_Rockets]

2 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

We have a Zoom with Vortex tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully after that we'll have a better feel for the rangefinders as a whole and their various pieces and parts, as well as a few nuggets to test on (I know I have a couple tests I want to run). More to come soon.

I'm looking forward to the call, and of course finally getting it out on the course! My schedule and the weather have not cooperated so far, but I should be able to get it out and test it this weekend. 

[Swood1994]

Great reviews so far everyone! It's great to see that @Vortex Golf's customer service lives up to the rest of the business reputation. That for me is their second biggest selling point behind their optics and why I have been a long time customer of their hunting optics! The Flight Pack is super cool too. I love the towel and divot tool they included. Can't wait to see how these start to perform out on the course and the comparisons to what everyone is using currently.

[sirchunksalot]

I'm planning on getting out for 9 tomorrow after work and a zoom meeting I have to put the Anarch to the test again. 

I've been working to get photos through the lens to give you guys a look at how great these optics are, but more work is needed to get them where I want. I did manage to get some by both hanging the rangefinder to the fridge and my smoker outside. I also used a GoPro on a tripod but making the minute adjustments took some time and I could get it to perfect, it wouldn't stay there.

Here's a look at how I have it set up to measure at the moment using both the circle and the cross hair.

Here's another option for measuring, no circle just the cross hair. 

I'm also finding it easy to change settings in the Vortex from adjusting the brightness to changing the measuring mark. 

To change things first you have to press the green measure bottom to power the unit on. To go to the menu to change brightness you simply quick press the menu button and then use the measure button to cycle between the brightness options. 

In order to adjust things like yardage to meters, turning slope on and off, and the target recticle, you have to long press the menu button then tap the measure button to switch to things like slope on/off. You can also cycle through the menu there by pressing the menu button to change your options. 

I like the fact the measure button is indexed with 4 raised dots so you know instinctively where your finger is at. 

Overall, I like the fact the Vortex is so user friendly and can't wait to get it back out on the course. 

 

 

[rkj427]

Really like the fact that the button has the "index marks" on it for feel, as that is something that sometimes is an issue for me when I use my Nikon.

Buttons are close together, and sometimes I mistakenly hit the wrong one.

[sirchunksalot]

16 minutes ago, rkj427 said:

Really like the fact that the button has the "index marks" on it for feel, as that is something that sometimes is an issue for me when I use my Nikon.

Buttons are close together, and sometimes I mistakenly hit the wrong one.

I hadn't noticed it until yesterday and thought it was a cool feature. It's so easy to hit the wind button and having a way to differentiate is nice. 

[Shrek74]

I received my "freebie" hat yesterday. It's the one you get when you scan the QR code in the Flight Pack. It's definitely more my style as I'm not a rope hat guy. But it's a great touch to offer a second hat as they have with the rangefinders.

[sirchunksalot]

I went out to play today after getting off a zoom call with the folks at Vortex. It was a great call and I'm appreciative of them giving up their time to talk to us. You could tell from the call that they were thankful for some of the feedback we gave them and took notes pertaining to some of our critique. I just thought that was cool. 

My wife was kind enough to join me on the course today and I was going to have her take some photos and video but with the heat index being around 100, I decided to put a spin on the testing and let her use the Anarch for me. I thought getting some feedback from a non golfer would be interesting. 

First off, she was impressed with the optics. She mentioned how clear they were and was really impressed with the target recticle. 

She also stated she loved the way it felt in hand with the rubberized coating and felt like it was secure when she gripped it. 

The thing she was most impressed with was the image stabilization, she was saying that even though she's an artist she has shaky hands and she loved how it helped her lock onto the target quickly. 

I had her giving me the yardages and she was giving me both the actual yardage and the adjusted. 

I'm not going to say I didn't use it, too.

@KC Golf I did make it a point to range the first hole from the tee box and it locked on quickly and gave me an accurate reading of 367 yards. 

[KC Golf]

On 7/8/2024 at 4:04 PM, GolfSpy_KFT said:

I have the Anarch and have ranged flags from 400+ yard Par 4s for fun with no issue. I will test it out on a Par 5 on our front nine tomorrow that is straight enough to see the flag from the tee box 

 

3 hours ago, sirchunksalot said:

I went out to play today after getting off a zoom call with the folks at Vortex. It was a great call and I'm appreciative of them giving up their time to talk to us. You could tell from the call that they were thankful for some of the feedback we gave them and took notes pertaining to some of our critique. I just thought that was cool. 

My wife was kind enough to join me on the course today and I was going to have her take some photos and video but with the heat index being around 100, I decided to put a spin on the testing and let her use the Anarch for me. I thought getting some feedback from a non golfer would be interesting. 

First off, she was impressed with the optics. She mentioned how clear they were and was really impressed with the target recticle. 

She also stated she loved the way it felt in hand with the rubberized coating and felt like it was secure when she gripped it. 

The thing she was most impressed with was the image stabilization, she was saying that even though she's an artist she has shaky hands and she loved how it helped her lock onto the target quickly. 

I had her giving me the yardages and she was giving me both the actual yardage and the adjusted. 

I'm not going to say I didn't use it, too.

@KC Golf I did make it a point to range the first hole from the tee box and it locked on quickly and gave me an accurate reading of 367 yards. 

This Anarch is hitting it out of the park so far from everything I am reading from the Testers!  This looks like a winner!

[sirchunksalot]

I stepped outside last night around 8:30 to simulate using the Anarch in lower light conditions one might encounter at the end of an evening round. 

I have to say, it was cool to see the auto brightness setting I have turned on doing it's thing. There was immediately a red tint to the display that allowed me to read the display without an issue. I used both a golf bag on a neighbor's carport and a car as my test subject and got the same reading on distance I would in bright, sunny conditions. 

The only issue I had was the lenses fogging up from keeping it stored in my closet. I have a vent in there and keep the door closed to keep the cat from sneaking in and possibly getting injured, so it's an icebox in there.

I brought the Vortex back in the house where it was dimmer and although I couldn't range anything, I could still see the brightness setting working to allow me to read the display. 

[Shrek74]

Had the Anarch on the course for round two today. Something strange happened during the round - The Anarch moved on the cart post.

When I put it on the post, I put the Anarch on the right side of the post and the Pro L2 on the left side (see previous comment about magnet locations). After some holes, I looked up and noticed the Anarch had moved around to the back of the post (seen above). This is a bit of a concern about the magnet, as I think I've mentioned previously. It has a solid hold, but it doesn't grab the post the way the Pro L2 or others I've used have. When I put the Pro L2 on the post, it "jumps" onto the post like it's life depended on it. The Anarch just grabs on, like that lazy kid in gym class who's there because they have to. I'm not so sure I'm worried about it falling off, but it just doesn't seem to have as much of an "angry" grip to the post that others do. Something keep my eyes on.

Otherwise, I'm really enjoying the single-handed ranging that the stabilization feature allows me to do. Left hand, right hand, both hands, doesn't matter. It's on the pin, tree, post, cart, person, or squirrel without issue. Loving that!!

[Shrek74]

I'm no professional photographer, but here are some images of the Anarch "in the wild."