My trusty old Nikon rangefinder I’ve used for years works well enough, but it does not feature angle compensation, lacks clarity in low light situations, and can be finicky to range some objects. I recently had a chance to pick up the Vortex Razor HD 4000 rangefinder. After testing it out for the past few months, I wanted to share my feedback.
First Impressions
Picking up the Razor for the first time, I was really impressed with how rugged the unit feels. The rubberized coating provides a comfortable and secure grip, and the size is perfect. At 4.6 x 3.1 inches, the Razor is a bit larger than compact rangefinders but is still a very manageable size. Weighing under 10 ounces, it won’t add much to your pack weight. The optic features a 7X fixed zoom and a 25mm objective lens. This larger objective size of the lens does a great job of letting light in and, with the added zoom lets you really stretch out and range some far off-targets. Speaking of range, the Razor is good out to 4000 yards for reflective targets in ELR (Extended Long Range) mode and can range a deer out to 2200 yards. There are three different modes, which are Normal, Scan, and ELR. Scan mode continually gives distance readings while Normal gives one reading at a time. ELR takes a little longer to compute the distance but can range much farther. Vortex recommends using a tripod for ELR mode. The response time in normal mode is instant. You also have the option of using Horizontal Compensated Distance mode or Line of Sight. HCD mode computes the angle to your target to give you an accurate distance at different elevations. Looking through the glass, the image is crystal clear and really deserving of the Razor title in Vortex’s lineup. The bullseye and text are a bright red which allows you to quickly aim and read your yardage. More conventional rangefinders use black for the bullseye and text which can be hard to see—especially in low light. At $500 the Razor is not cheap by any means, but you get what you pay for. If you are looking for the best handheld standalone rangefinder, look no further than the Razor HD 4000.
