hey guys Scott Reekers here with EASTMANS' HUNTING JOURNAL from wonderful
wet Wyoming this spring of 2019 we have the opportunity today to take a look at
the Vortex razor HD 4000 rangefinder and we're going to go through its
specifications take a look at what it does and then I want to take some time
and really camp out on how you can practically use these features in the
field and what it means for you as a hunter
first feature that I want to talk
about is when you press the measure button you have something called the
normal mode on this rangefinder in normal mode you can get up to 1600 yards
they have it labeled on the chart that that is where you can pick up to a deer
out to 1600 yards practical world deer hide is reflective the hair is going to
be pretty reflective but they can also blend in so if they're not standing out
in the sun 1600 yards is a lot of distance to be able to pick up the range
of a deer standing in the high country hanging out in the shadows a more
standard piece of what you or often times when you're clicking through
sitting and sitting from your glassing point look at huh I wonder how far that
is is your glass enough trees you're picking specific trees in the middle of
that basin well in this particular setting you can get out to 1,800 yards
in normal mode with this rangefinder I've done a little further than that
with this it's a clear day there's nothing interfering with that going back
and forth but it's very possible to get out to 1,800 yards no problem the next
piece inside the normal mode is 2400 yards on reflective targets now
reflective targets are going to be like some of these big rocks you see in the
very very far distance that are way out there but you can reach out in touch
with the Razor HD 4000 2200 vortex has been very honest and normal mode about
what you can get now let's move into scan mode you are an archery hunter and
you're watching as a group of elk is moving somewhere between fifty and seven
five yards away from you and they're working across you've got the wind right
and you're just waiting there the beauty of scan mode is that you can hold the
button down work your way across and the Razor HD 4000 will continue to pick up
targets at different distances now does this work for the rifle hunter who is
taking ethical shots and quite a bit further than an archery shop passing you
left 50 60 70 yards that a lot of archers take absolutely I've scanned
with this here and I've had no problem picking up different targets 500 600 700
800 different distances as it goes out and away and I've intentionally done far
distances to see how quickly it picks it up did very well in doing that how did I
verify that well I've also got Vortex's Fury which they made a big splash with
and you can read about in the last issue of EASTMANS' HUNTINGJOURNAL I looked
out and I verified the distance with this binocular range finding binoculars
so that I could make sure that we were picking up the same things at scan mode
because I was curious the scan mode actually work when was it like really
picking up stuff as you're moving from point to point absolutely it does now
here is where the 4000 comes into place on the Razor HD 4000 title the extended
laser range function allows you to get out to 4000 yards to get into extended
laser range mode you hold the menu button for 4 seconds and make your
selection this is when you really want to reach out and touch something when
you really have something very very far that you want to know just how far away
you are from that practical world what does that mean I'm sitting at the top of
a high country basin and I'm glassing and I can see that there is a game trail
down at the bottom and I know on the other side of the basin there's a group
of elk that is working their way down that basin towards me this will give me
an accurate distance on just how far that is a lot of times there's a lot of
conjecture that goes back and forth between hunting buddies how far do you
think that is how far of a hike do you think that is this will tell you in
yards exactly how far that is based on line of sight and you
can appropriately figure out huh that's how far I'm going to have to hike to get
that let's be honest you're not going to take a 4000 yard shot but it is useful
for knowing exactly how far that distance is and when your game is coming
down that trail it puts you in a position where you can get close enough
to intercept and help you understand just how much time it'll take you to get
there Vortex recommends that to get out to
that 4,000 yards you hook this up to a tripod you can see that it comes with an
adapter the hooks right onto your tripod this adapter also works on the Fury
binoculars so you it's one fits all if you choose to go that route you have two
buttons one for measuring and one for your menu that allows you to change your
mode it allows you to do line of sight which line of sight is exactly how far
it is how far is it from your line of sight there is no angle compensation for
bullet drop anything like that in line of sight but if you want the bullet drop
the Vortex has it the HCD horizontal component distance that actually means
your actual distance that you would be shooting so for instance if you're
shooting at an animal that's uphill that's actually closer to you than what
line of sight is because of how much gravity affects your projectile and so
the Razor HD 4000 will give you that HCD which tells you how to actually aim
rather than aiming a lot farther based on the angle of shot vortex really
really really really wanted to make sure that this was a rangefinder that the
masses would be able to take use and be able to effectively kill animals with
I've literally gone through all the features in the menu easily navigated it
and it's not confusing at all like some menus that with different electronics
that you work with and especially like in our smartphone world you feel like
you get confused by the time you even like enter it and start getting into
your settings well that's not the case with this Vortex Razor it's it does
everything that it says it will do with ease and practically and very quick so
I'm pretty impressed with how all the features work together and how the
range-finding menu works there's one battery
here very easy to replace and take out you will get approximately four thousand
ranges out of that your fingers gonna get pretty tired before your battery
goes out I would venture a guess that most of us would get a full season of
use out of this the range finders of old were bulky and they were not fun to deal
with the button was always in an awkward spot and you're reaching goofy not the
Vortex Razor HD 4000 this is a very comfortable rangefinder in your hand
very easy to use it also has a coating on the outside that just be honest we're
hunters we hunt in wet so it's going to get wet it's gonna be sticky on your
fingers even when there's wet weather outside and you have to pull it out when
it gets a little bit damp any rangefinder that doesn't make it easier
for you to take the shot or make it more efficient is not going to work and
that's what vortex pursuit of the Razor HD 4000 they wanted us as hunters to
have a rangefinder that allowed us to quickly number one get on target number
two stay on target that would be the scan mode and then number three take a
clean ethical shot and understand the distance that we're taking thanks again
for joining us here at EASTMANS' HUNTING JOURNALS YouTube channel as well as our
blog and the e news all those links are down below in the description if you are
not subscribed to any of those take the time to do that because we will have
more gear reviews that will help you figure out which products you want to
take to the field with you like this Vortex Razor HD 4000 and we'll see you
next time on the Eastmans' gear lab