Vortex Impact 4000 Laser Rangefinder Review

Vortex Impact 4000 Laser Rangefinder Review
or, alternatively:
14 Reasons Not to Buy a Vortex Impact 4000.

There’s a lot of reviews of the Vortex Impact 4000. The problem is they are mostly dishonest reviews because the reviewers are affiliates that profit when you buy the product they’re reviewing. We’re one of the few independent reviewers of optics that isn’t just trying trying to remove Benjamins from your wallet.

So in reality, how good (or bad) is the Vortex Impact 4000?

If you’re considering buying a Vortex Impact 4000, thank us, because we’re about to save you $2000. Here’s 14 reasons you shouldn’t buy one. And you’ll learn about an alternative that’s better and less expensive.

1. Excessively bright LCD display wreaks night shooting
LCD display is is too bright for night shooting. It lights the rifle and your face up pretty well. Coyotes will notice you glowing like the sun when you try to get a range. The excessive brightness has many trying to jury-rig something like plastic tint, only to discover that with the tint, they are no longer able to see the display during the daytime.

2. Display slows down and can stop working in cold weather

3. Battery life is far shorter in cold weather

4. Button presses and menu navigation slower in cold weather

5. Calibration is a nightmare

6. Location of power button problematic
“The amount of times I missed an opportunity on a coyote trying to find the power button and ranging it were unreal.”

7. The moon glints off the huge glass front end

8. Chews though expensive batteries
Uses the CR123A battery, which is about $4 each.

9. Makes rifle too tall to fit in rifle case

10. Trouble getting the bluetooth remote to connect
The blinking red light is like being water boarded.

11. Data collection and privacy concerns
The phone app will not work if you disable location services on your phone.

12. Lack of stability when zeroing
Upon zeroing, we found the visible aiming laser elevation adjustment jumps and wanders sporadically. I press the “settings” button to exit the zeroing function and the laser’s elevation moves higher and does not return to zero after the button had been pressed. We re-entered the zeroing process with the aiming laser to find that the elevation was off even further. We could do this any number of times and it would move.

13. Issues with the bluetooth remote
We wish they would use a remote cable connection rather than bluetooth to connect the remote. Would of eliminated the “here I am” flashing red LED beacon, any possible connectivity issues, less battery drain for constant remote connection, and the need for another battery to need replacing. Our first battery didn’t last long, and it’s not even cold out yet. Also you are unable to turn the unit on/off via remote. We want to turn unit off to preserve battery and not get blinded from the screen. But then it’s difficult to turn the device back on quickly because it’s a damn Bluetooth remote. It needs the signal first, so the only option is to to try and find the power button on the unit. I can’t find the power button with gloves, it’s not distinguishable enough from the other 4 buttons.

14. Divergence between visible aiming laser and IR ranging laser

The Alernative
The alternative to buying a Vortex Impact 4000 is buying a Sightlok RF-1 and using that with your existing rangefinder. In our case, we replaced our Vortex Impact 4000 with a Sightlok RF-1 rangefinder mount paired with a Sig KILO BDX rangefinder. Benefits are integrated support for Kestrel windmeters, better accuracy. applied Ballistics calculator, and a slew of other features unique to the Sig Sauer KILO BDX rangefinder. About 1/5 the price. Or if you don’t need a ballistics calculator, the Laserworks LE-032 is another low budget WMLRF that works with the Sightlok mount, cost is about $160 instead of $2000.

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