Vortex Viper 6x32 Binocular

I purchased these recently for my wife, who has had trouble spotting birds with 8x bins. First impressions: easy to look through, very bright and clear image, field of view feels huge, focus action is just about perfect, good ergonomics, plenty of eye relief. Even the lens caps work like you'd want. And the close focus is pretty amazing; you can actually focus on your own shoes. Nice going, Vortex.

THE GOOD: The optics, build quality, and ergonomics are simply first rate. Plus of course the Vortex warranty.

- Optically they are simply stunning, extremely clear, bright and neutral (no warm/cool color bias like some bins) and tack sharp. Other than perhaps edge performance, they are essentially "alpha" quality optically. The Porter's review of mid-sized bins at birdwatching dot com is spot on, although those were the 8x32... the Vipers are simply world class optically. Plus close focus is ridiculous at 3ft!

- I love the build and ergonomics: great grip and tension on the focus knob, super precise... excellent eyecups... very comfortable rubber armor (not slick and plasticky like some budget bins). They feel like a high quality, rugged piece of gear. And unlike many "compact" binoculars they are actually quite small and light, and feel great in the hand.

- I compared these extensively to a pair of the vaunted 7x36 Zen-Ray ED2 and the Vipers were essentially equal optically (each with their pluses and minuses). The Zens have a wider FOV and obviously slightly greater magnification, and are a hair brighter, but they exhibit a slightly warm color bias, have worse edge performance, and are inferior in build and ergonomics IMHO (Vipers have better armor, eyecups, diopter adjustment and focus knob).

THE BAD: Unfortunately, one minor issue is going to cause me to return these gems: the eye relief is actually TOO much!

I do NOT wear glasses, and had to fight blackouts with these Viper 6x32's and their 20mm+ of eye relief, even with eyecups fully extended. If the eyecups had one more clickstop of extension they would probably have worked fine for me, but as it is the blackouts an unfortunate deal killer.

Secondarily, I found the 6x magnification a wee bit too small for the all-around birding I do, and that combined with the eye relief issue makes me think I would LOVE the Viper 8x32, which have shorter eye relief to go with the greater magnification. Unfortunately, the 8x32 are all sold out!

One final niggle: the interpupilary distance (IPD) is insufficiently small for people with narrowly spaced eyes. My wife has a small face and she could not use the Vipers because the barrels cannot get close enough together for her to form a complete image (as opposed to seeing two circles).

In all other respects beyond these last minor issues, the Vipers are SUPERB. So they are clearly 5 stars, just be aware of the above.

These are very nice mid sized binocs if you wear glasses and need good eye relief. I have several pairs of binoculars, some very expensive. These are very sharp in the center (less so towards the outside), focus is tight (no slop), the view is bright and they are small enough to carry easily. The eye relief is very good. The are a nice compromise between compacts and full size. Quite comfortable with glasses but not that big or heavy.

I have heard that the HD version of this binocular is sharper further out to the edges which could be nice too. I think that is all they are going to make now since this version is discontinued.

Bottom line, I really like these. I had Swarovski 7x42's and they were always too big and heavy so they stayed home. These go everywhere.

The twist up eyecups on these binos were a problem for me. I don't wear glasses and found the twist up eyecups did not twist up far enough for me. I found myself holding the binoculars away from my face. Other than that one problem, these seemed like very good binos.

These are excellent, first pass binoculars. They don't stun you the way really expensive glass does, but there are pretty much no flaws with them. Very little glare. Ergonomics are great. Excellent one-handers.

Lower magnification is actually preferable in many circumstances, but most buyers are still drawn to higher power - making the discounted price on these quite a good deal. I have 6x, 7x, 8x 10x, 20x, and scopes. Unless I know exactly what I'm looking for, this little guy is pulled out first. They are great for active birds. Perfect for track meets.

I bought them for their very close (3') focus, but they have turned out to be far more useful than I had planned. Highly recommended.

I have had my Viper 6 X 32's for almost 3 months. I could not be more pleased with them. They are beautifully finished and sturdy. Im not an expert on optics, so I will not try to be. The focus knob is smooth with just the right amount of resistance. When they snap into focus, the clarity nearly takes my breath away. Im so glad I went with the 6 power. The brightness more than makes up for the lesser magnification. Im giving 5 stars because they deserve it. However I do have one issue that needs to be mentioned. The Vortex case is too small to contain the binocular and neck strap. Sure you can get it all in & fasten it closed, but it is so tightly packed that Im concerned it will mangle or damage the eyepieces. ( Yes, I adjust them down before I put them in the case & it's still too snug).

I just received these binoculars yesterday. I was using a leupold yosemite 8x30 up till now. The leupolds are great. They don't offer good low light performance or close focus. I love how they feel in hand. And they are great binoculars for a sunny day. The vipers are even better. And that's saying something. The focus wheel is buttery smooth. They feel small in my large hands. This feeling is mostly due to the fact that I was using an entirely different binocular before. I took a trip to a local park with lots of waterfowl. Man.... What a wonderful view. Never think that 6x isn't enough magnification to enjoy a wonderful view. I walked around for several hours in the woods without ever feeling fatigued by these binos. I wish I had pics through my binoculars to show you guys. Every color comes through! This binocular will literally make you pick them up just to look through them. Oddly enough there is a very tiny insect leg inside my left scope. It's was only noticed while watching a bird in flight. I might have never seen it if not for that. I called vortex about it right then. They were very helpful and immediately sent me a free prepaid shipping label so that I could send them back. They said there return on service was two days and that they would have them back to me in no time. Awesome customer service! This in no way detracts from this wonderful pair of binoculars. Do yourself a favor and buy this exact pair before they sell out! I will always be a huge vortex fan for great customer service and amazing optics. Thanks Vortex!

I own and greatly depend upon an older Ranging 5x30 Dawn to Dusk binocular, but it has begun to show its age and is no longer available or repairable since no one will take on the job.

So I needed a valid low light, light weight replacement that would stand up to the rigors of wet and cold northwest forest weather. Bowhunting is a demanding avocation and optics are key to finding and stalking. The Viper 6x32 is an outstanding replacement. It works very well in all light and adverse outdoor conditions. I would recommend it to anyone needing quality optics for a mid-range price.

I ordered these at the same time I ordered a brand new pair of Nikon SE 8x32 binoculars. My intention was to see which I preferred and return the other after a basic comparison. Unfortunately they are so good I ended up keeping both. Most people are aware that optically the Nikon SEs are considered some of the best available. I was amazed that the Vortex offered a similar viewing experience but obviously at a lower magnification. They were extremely sharp with no color shift that I could see. About the only issue when compared to the SE was the Vortex are not as sharp at the edge. The ergonomics are great and they are built like a pair of Swarovski binoculars. I wear glasses when I observe and these were excellent from that regard. They should be a great pair of woods binoculars for birding.

I purchased a pair of 6x32 Vortex Viper's from Eagle Optics recently without even looking thru a pair of 6x before because of the sale price of 330 bucks and no shipping cost, and ofcourse their return policy. I had viewed the Viper 8x32 and a pair of 10x42's at my local sporting goods (ofcourse their's were full price of around 550 + bucks). I am a hunter who can appreciate a good exit pupil for low light conditions so to go to a compact pair for in woods I felt the need to drop some magnification for good balance. I also own a pair of 10x50 Razors by Vortex for open country / distance viewing and I must state the 6x Viper rivals them in most areas (excluding magnification ofcourse). I am very pleased with the low light abilities and clarity of these bino's. I am here to tell you if your looking for a pair of bino's for viewing in the woods these are what you want. More mag. in a 32 mm bino only dims your view and makes it hard to zero in on what it is you wish to see and packing a full size is heavy and unnecessary. Also I can testify to Vortex warranty as I bought my Razors as is display model. Soon after getting them I notice the eye diopler was malfuctioning ( turned with focus wheel) so I called and explained my story to Vortex. I sent them in as they requested and they sent me a new pair including lens covers that did not come with my money saving display models. You better hurry because I would bet they will not be so cheap forever! But if you don't make the sale they are worth the full asking price!

I purchased both the Vortex Viper 6x32 binoculars and the Leupold Katmei 6x32 binoculars and have been comparing them both for the past two days. Both are excellent products but I have decided to keep the Vipers. The Katmei are smaller, lighter and I like the focus wheel a little better on the Leupold Katmei. However, the Vortex Vipers have slightly better optical clarity and color and I prefer the lens covers on the Vipers. The Vipers also use BAK-4 glass while the Katmie have BAK-7 glass. So the Vipers will head out to the field this weekend.

I enjoy the resolution, brightness, and wide field of view.
They are a pleasure to use. However, there are two small
problems for me:(1)for my eyes the eyecups need to be slightly
taller (deeper) and (2)the hinge barely allows the two barrels
to come close enough for the spacing of my eyes, which is a
problem that I have not had with other binoculars.

Years ago, my first pair of binoculars was a pair of bog-standard 6x30 porro prism binoculars that came to me in a shoebox - in pieces. After head scratching and hours of torture I began using them and did all the standard things that people with more powerful and expensive bins do - Moons of Jupiter, albatross at sea miles away and lots of local birds. I eventually moved on to a very fine pair of Leica binoculars built with the same ethos which was utility combined with ruggedness. Recently I bought myself a pair of 6x32 Vortex Vipers. They are sharp, with fine abilities when pointed towards bright lights. They are now a permanent fixture when biking and they take to bicycle crashes with a vengeance. They are also nice to use in a rocking boat. Low magnification and a sharp image is a huge plus when I get off the bike puffing and use these bins to look at wildlife. My idea was I needed less magnification, not more and these little gems fill the bill exceptionally well. I was prepared to put up with a loss of quality in many areas to fill a need but I need not have worried. These are not merely good binoculars. They are extremely useful binoculars. 6X is cool.

I have compared the viper 6x32 versus the Leupold katmai 6x32 and found the viper to easily best the katmai in most areas. The viper had better resolution, better depth of view, a brighter view and the color rendition seemed more natural. Build quality on both was excellent , the katmai was more compact. Each was easy to use with eyeglasses on and had more than adequate eye relief. A colleague reviewed both and while he felt the katmai was an excellent little binocular he agreed that the viper was in a higher class. We both felt the extra cost of the viper was justified. Eagle optics as always provided first rate service.

In the past, I probably would have never considered a 6x binocular as a serious "must have" optic. That was until I took a close look at the Vortex Viper 6x32. The handy size of this binocular with the FOV of 420', the enhanced color and contrast of the image with the XD glass, the overall quality of build of the Viper is what sold me. The focus knob is very smooth with no hang-ups, excellent objective and ocular covers, really nice. No eye strain, totally relaxed viewing with the Viper. I rate this binocular among the best and most useful for general birding in the woods and, surprisingly, a bit of astronomy on the other extreme. Additionally, with the close focus capability of 3 feet I am truly happy with the Viper 6x32.