Yes the Razor series. The major suppliers for glass for optic companies is Japan. Phillipines, China and Germany.
So most all companies get their glass from other countries. Im not sure if any American company makes glass. Anbody have insight on that.
I think that is more of a parts sourced chart-
All Leupold riflescopes are designed, machined, and assembled in the USA at their Beaverton, Oregon factory. This includes all major, current product lines such as the VX-Freedom, VX-3HD, VX-5HD, VX-6HD, Mark 3HD, Mark 4HD, Mark 5HD, and FX-II Ultralight series, ensuring they are American-made
The only Vortex scope line currently manufactured and assembled in the USA is the premium Vortex Razor HD AMG (6-24x50), often referred to as “American Made Glass”. While most Vortex products are designed in Wisconsin, other lines are made in Japan, the Philippines, or China.
Well my budget dictates Vortex only had one issue with a diamondback 4-16x44 sent it for repair twice the second time they replaced it with a Viper hd 5-25x50 i was super happy with that. I dont care where they are assembled assembled in usa is why Leopold is more expensive id imagine.
A few notes. I would NOT compare the VX-5HD to the Venom. These have different use cases/audiences in mind. The better comparison from Vortex would be Razor HD LHT 3-15x42. Which is a great scope. Both have excellent glass and second focal plane, more lightweight and compact. Aimed at hunters. They are similar price too. Now you can also compare with Vortex Viper HD 3-15x44 which in my opinion would be the better buy. That’s either Philippines or Japan, and Viper glass is always really nice, for much less than the Razor series.
The venom is for “poor” precision crowd who want to get into the sport but are on a tight budget. Used to be the Diamondback tactical was the entry level option there, and Vioer PST mid-level, but recently they have introduced the venom and updated the strike eagle to 34 mm tubes and now they consider the precision line up good/better/best to be Venom/Strike Eagle/Razor Gen 3. Not sure if they will ever update the DT or PST lines, or just phase out and move to these newer ones. Hard to say, but the split is between precision/tactical and hunting.
For hunting the good/better/best lineup that is more recent/modern is Crossfire HD (recent update from Crossfire 2) then Viper HD series, then Razor HD LHT. They still have some legacy models out there on sale like Viper HST and Diamondback (not tactical) but again hard to know the future of those models, they are pretty tight lipped until they are ready to make announcements.
All that having been said the comparison you’re asking for isn’t apples to apples, the closest “true” comparison is to the Razor HD LHT, and in my opinion the Viper HD is the better value between all those choices (but Leupold is still the best made in USA choice).
