The version of the Vortex Fury 5000 laser rangefinder binoculars we’ll be looking at in this review is the second generation or iteration of these optics. Generation 1 appeared in 2017.
What’s changed in about two years?
That’s what I’ll walk you through in the article that follows. If, before you get to that, you want to take a peek at the pricing and availability of the Vortex Fury HD at Amazon, you can click (tap) the link just below.
Contents
The Vortex Fury Has Good Optics
A laser rangefinder (LRF) is nice, but it doesn’t do much good if you can’t see your target clearly. The Fury is well-equipped for that purpose though.
It has a high definition (HD) optical system crafted to give you great resolution, little to no chromatic aberration, and beautiful color. What you see through the lenses should be sharp from edge to edge.
The lenses are fully multi-coated – the best you can get – and have anti-reflective and dielectric coatings on the outer surfaces. This means light transmission through the tubes is excellent, which is what you need for the best sightings. Phase correction simply adds to the clarity of what you see.
What the Vortex Fury LRF Can Do
Now that you know you’ll be able to pick out your target easily, let’s look at what the laser rangefinding capabilities are.
Since these 10×42 binoculars do include the LRF, it’s assumed that you’ll be using these for hunting or perhaps target shooting. The LRF is really overkill for birding. There’s really no reason for bird watchers to need to know how far away their feathered friends are. (I suppose there could be exceptions to this, so don’t take it out on me in the comments.)
The Fury LRF has a “horizontal component distance” mode which is a fancy way of saying angle compensation. Whether your target is higher or lower than you, these binoculars can take that into account when giving you the range.
The LRF also has a line of sight more that shows you – as you should expect – the actual line of sight range.
You can invoke the scan feature to continuously track a moving object and instantly be told its distance all along the way. The electronics inside will ping the objects 4 times per second. This is faster than the previous edition of these binoculars did their scanning.
One of two new features in the 2019 edition of the Fury is called Best Mode. This is the mode you’ll normally use. It displays the “strongest range result”; that is, where most of the laser beams are reflected.
In contrast, Last Mode shows you the furthest distance when ranging or scanning. This is great for ranging targets that are behind potential other objects in the foreground like trees, for example.
Vortex claims they give you and easy-to-use menu inside with an illuminated display. (I haven’t used the menu, so I can’t really tell you how easy it is to navigate. I doubt that it’s anything complex though.) Among other settings, you can swap between yards and meters for ranging.
Controls for adjusting the LRF are on the right side. You should be able to manage them with just one hand.
The Vortex Fury Is Built to Last
Combining rubber armor with ArmorTek coating provides durability, a non-slip grip, along with scratch-resistance, and repelling of nasties like oil and dirt.
That takes care of the outside which also helps take care of the inside. In addition, these binos are shockproof, made to withstand recoil and sudden impact. Handle them nicely whenever you can, just the same.
They are both waterproof (O-ring seals) and fogproof (nitrogen purged) to make them useful in just about any weather that you’d care to be hunting in.
Specs Are More Than Adequate
The 2017 edition of the Vortex Fury could range reflective objects out to 1600 yards. The HD Fury from 2019 more than doubles that distance to 5000 yards – hence the 5000 in its name.
For non-reflective targets, like deer and other animals, you can range up to 1600 yards. This is an improvement of about 600 yards over the earlier generation.
Accuracy of ranging depends, as always, upon the distance of the target. Out to 100 yards, the Fury is accurate to +/- 1 yard. Out to 1000 yards, it’s accurate +/- 2 yards. From 1000 to the maximum 5000 yards, you’ll be within 3 yard, plus or minus.
Field of view is just over 321 feet at 1000 yards. That’s pretty good for 10×42 binoculars. Close focus is 18.5 feet – less than you’re likely to care about when hunting.
Eye relief is a decent 16 millimeters, so you don’t need to have your eyes plastered to the eyecups all the time – though you probably will while ranging. You can adjust the interpupillary distance from 58 to 72 millimeters to suit the space between your eyes.
Overall these binoculars measure about 5.75 by 5 inches and weight a tad over 32 ounces. So they’re not exactly lightweight, but that’s a tradeoff you have to put up with for the size and the existence of the LRF.
Additional Vortex Fury Features and Vortex VIP Warranty
You get eyecups that you can twist to make viewing comfortable whether you are wearing glasses or not.
Especially if you are not wearing glasses, you may appreciate the diopter on the right lens that you can set to compensate for any differences in focusing power between each of your eyes.
If you want to mount the Fury binos onto a tripod, you can, but you’ll need to get a simple adapter to do so. This is common for optics like these.
The Vortex Optics VIP warranty is among the best in the business. They’ve got you covered just about every way you can think of. You can see the details here.
Conclusions about the Vortex Fury LRF Binoculars
I think the Vortex Fury 5000 would be especially useful for open range hunting where distances are greater than, say, in a Wisconsin forest or in hilly country.
They aren’t cheap, but they do cost (as of this writing) significantly less than similar products from other manufacturers. Until this price difference narrows, Vortex Optics gives you the most for your money, which is an investment you’ll appreciate for many years to come.
If you want to compare other laser range finders to the Vortex Fury first, check out this option from Steiner.
