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
