Good Deal At Epps on Bushnell.
- Thread starter douginont
- Start date
There are a few problems with "made in China". Their raw materials are pretty low grade, steel, aluminum, springs, all not very good stuff and all of what the scope mechanicals are made from.
The other problem is they are not assembled by skilled workers, so they don't know if the lens they drop in is straight or solid or good quality, their job is to put the lens in on the assembly line for xx hours a day and go home.
If you think price dictates quality with Chinese optics, have a look at King Optics Canada....they are all made in China and some are upward of $2000. Buy one of those and let us know how awesome it is lol.
coleman1495
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Whitecourt
Does Bushnell repair broken Tactical Elite scopes? If I send one in on warranty, will they repair it and send it back to me or send me a new scope?
Quality will always be a crap shoot if they aren’t repairing the busted scopes. It means they have no idea what’s wrong with them.
I am with you on this one. I came out of the era where Bushnell and Tasco were of such crap quality that there were giving scopes in general a bad reputation as being unreliable. Don Epps related to me back in the 70's that, yes Bushnell has a life time warranty, but good luck in trying take advantage of it. He furthered that he sells a lot of Bushnell scopes along with other brands and we have the most complaints on Bushnell. That was a long time ago, but to my knowledge Bushnell quality has not improved to the point to be considered a premium scope and worth a $1K per. A bunch of us used to joke that the best thing about a Bushnell scope was the box it came in. You throw the scope away and keep the box as it was more useful and would last longer.
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seems to me I see a lot of folks grabbing the athlon midas tac with new aps3 reticale for 1200 bucks and raving about it. That's not crazy talk. Its not like Chinese manufacturing has been frozen in time. When the engineering and development is done outside of China and they simply assemble it there is tons of value for consumers. Seems silly to think that given a spec, materials, and some QA you couldn't make a quality product in China.
Tesla avoided bankruptcy last year by a hair, will probably go bankrupt this year. Shifting production to China is a last ditch effort to keep the company afloat. They are making cars in China, for the Chinese market with that factory. They are not being exported anywhere, because frankly nobody would buy one.
Given the option between Chinese optics vs any other country, at any price point, is really a no brainer decision. There are much better scopes for the same $$$ guaranteed at anything over $150, everything under that is all pretty terrible. You are buying low quality at HUGE profit margin, zero value in made in China scopes. Rave reviews online mean nothing, I had to read 10+ "professional" rave reviews just to find out where the Forge was even made. Usually that's in the first couple of lines of a review, when it's a quality scope.
Rave reviews on CGN are also probably the worst source for valuable information, most people don't know the difference between pee and paint on here lol. I've lost count of the rave reviews of non-functional or defective items that were new in box on here...if it looks kewl, newbs will buy lol.
Anyway, your $$, waste them as you please lol.
Also check out the battle rifles forum sometime, just to see how current Chinese M14 production is going. They have switched from forged and milled bolts to MIM bolts that blow up in under 100 rounds. Good old fashioned Chinese engineering at work there.
Hi Hitzy,
I hear you, At the individual level a lot is based on experiences. I bought an bushnell engage last year for 450 bucks. Its an exposed turret 4-16 MOA scope made in China. I ran it alongside my Japanese made Bushnell 5-15 tactical. The glass in the Chinese made Engage is clearer than the bushnell tactical made in Japan. Now the Japanese scope is about 6 years old and the Engage is a new model of course. The Engage feels and performs better than the older Japanese model so I sold the it and the Engage now sits on my .308 tactical. For 500 bucks you really cannot guarentee better quality from anywhere. Your options are a Vortex Diamondback, a comparable Nikon perhaps but at that price point having owned both of those, my experience is my Engage is as good if not better than those, now I only have a years use of it but whats a guy to think given these experiences?
Admittedly I have never bought Sightron, PST's, etc which would kind of be that next level but you pay for them. In Canada, about 1500 bucks. Having never returned a Bushnell product other than a piece of crap 1500 Elite rangefinder, my experience with their scopes have all been positive, the Engage was the first Chinese made, but all their Japan made ones I have owned have been good as well. I am just making a bet that my 1000 dollar 4.5-27x50 FFP Bushnell Forge will provide as much value as a 1500 dollar Sightron, PST2, or Athlon ETR, Etc. I am not saying as good performance wise but for a 1000 bucks....give me a comparable without saying Bushnell Chinese don't track, will break, because that has not been my experience.
I made the bet on the Forge because of the performance of the Chinese made Engage I experienced. I think you would have a hard time saying the Engage is junk given its been out for a couple years now and nothing I see and hear says these are not performing well. It is also hard to take when someone is laughing at you for wasting money on what you believe to be a good deal! I get the whole Chinese made stuff is junk, I got into their dirt bikes a couple years back and every part on them was crap. That doesn't mean that something engineered and developed in the West but assembled in China can't be as good as anywhere else. In my humble opinion this thinking is outdated.
I get why some dinosaurs on here disparage the quality of Bushnell scopes and mock those who like them. Used to be, Bushnell was synonymous with "budget scope". However, times change and sometimes so do the products offered by certain companies. Bushnell is one of the companies that has seriously upped its game to run with the big dogs of the "Tactical Scope" world. All the naysayers do these days is leave more Bushnell product selection for those of us who appreciate what their modern scopes bring to the table.
I would happily pit my XRS II against any similar rifle scope in the $3K price range. By all means, bring it on. I am willing to bet that there would be some crow eaten. In the same vein, show me a scope in the $2K price range that offers all of the same features and performance as the Bushnell DMR IIi. Good luck with that...
By all means, disparage the low-end, budget Bushnell scopes if you must, however they still sell well, fill a need and perform adequately. When it comes to Bushnell's top-of-the-line riflescopes however? Mockery simply reveals an ignorance of Bushnell's current high-end excellence while simultaneously eroding the critic's credibility.
I would happily pit my XRS II against any similar rifle scope in the $3K price range. By all means, bring it on. I am willing to bet that there would be some crow eaten. In the same vein, show me a scope in the $2K price range that offers all of the same features and performance as the Bushnell DMR IIi. Good luck with that...
By all means, disparage the low-end, budget Bushnell scopes if you must, however they still sell well, fill a need and perform adequately. When it comes to Bushnell's top-of-the-line riflescopes however? Mockery simply reveals an ignorance of Bushnell's current high-end excellence while simultaneously eroding the critic's credibility.
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Well I have called many things in my life, but "Dinosaur" is a first. I am honoured, and will take it a first class compliment although you may have never meant it as such, as I certainly would not want to be grouped anywhere near a "millennial" on the evolutionary scale. Relax, and never worry about us Dinosaurs buying up your prized Bushnell scopes. Kamlooky and I have far better things to do with our retirement millions. Enjoy your scope young fella while it lasts.
Fill yer bewtzs there bartocks, but "disparange" twice in a rant is simply a bit much.
Bushnell's warranty is one thing they can disparange up their highknee.
I've been played a few too many times with their so called great warranty.
When they have "YOUR" product and fail to listen to "YOUR" directions, they they can
take their product and and and...…………...well the sure won't disappoint me any more.
- Location
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I had to send a Bushnell Elite in for warranty a few years ago and they had a brand new scope back in my hands within 3 weeks. Just my experience.
coleman1495
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Whitecourt
It’s great that they were easy to deal with and sent you a new scope, but that’s not a good sign.
If they don’t repair the broken/faulty scopes how can they produce a quality product. That’s a sign they don’t know what’s wrong with the products they are selling. Maybe the Tactical Elite scopes are repaired?
Basically the success of the product they import from Asia is judged by number of returns they get. It’s not an effective measurement of the issues with a given model.
Vortex has an excellent warranty too. Unfortunately the warranty is really just their QC program.
Agreed, and the new forge line is pretty awesome for the money. I really like mine it’s the 2.5-15x 50 with Deploy MOA reticle. Just as clear imho as my buddy’s Leupold vx3
All I wanted to do was give a heads up on a deal. Reading this is like listening to truckers on the CB. I have the Forge and I have a Vortex Diamondback Tactical. Both made in China. In my best French J'ne give a phuque pas. Gun owners are their own worst enemy at times.
Just asking....
I sent in a Zeiss scope for warranty, and they didn't bother trying to fix it, just replaced it. Does that mean that Zeiss doesn't know what's wrong with the optics they are selling or that they are low-end?
coleman1495
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Whitecourt
It would indicate that they don’t know what the issues are with their optics yes. Do they fix their optics elsewhere? I don’t know.
, I just ask because Zeiss is a pretty big name when it comes to optics/accuracy/precision- Location
- NFA country
