^ Hmmm.. would have liked to have known while reading your blog. Can you provide details? I ask because your posts were what convinced me to pick one up in late October. Am I happy with it? So far, but it hasn't been mounted yet, still waiting on the rifle it was going to be mounted on. For me, it came down to the Kahles 624i or the NF ATACR 7-35 (MIL-C reticle) but there was no ETA on the new NF model so I went with the Kahles. Details about what went wrong would really be appreciated, as I bought it from the same place as you did.
Thanks,
OK - so this is for all who are interested: Firstly, I have been criticized for 'going public' about QC issues - many people and not just dealers would rather sweep this under the carpet so as to not hurt sales -and so I don't expect this post to make me any friends but here goes - apologies in advance for being a longish read:
Scope #1 - which was the subject of a favorable review on my blog. After the blog post was written I continued to use the scope but over the Winter 2016/17 when the snow was down I saw purple haze around trees against a snowy background. I believe this is called "Chromatic Aberration and, while not a big deal for many, it is a concern for me at price points North of, say, $2500 ( for those that don't know, the Kahles 624i is approx $3600 ).
Scope#2- This scope, acquired at the same time as I acquired my NF ATACR 5-25x56, actually sat unmounted waiting for a rifle build. At some point post my acquisition of this glass Omer inquired as to whether I'd used this scope or not and when I said it was BNIB waiting for a rifle he asked if I'd be open to doing a deal with him. Apparently he had another 624i scope - destined for a customer back East - that had three tiny marks on the bottom - underneath the turrets -and he was concerned that these purely cosmetic blemishes would be unacceptable to that customer. I figured as follows: a pure cosmetic blemish that couldn't be seen on a scope when mounted wouldn't bother me; Omer had been very good to me and I was happy to help out; and I was likely to get a discount on something else anyway so it wasn't pure altruism on my part anyway ! I took my BNIB scope to his store prepared to exchange it for the other BNIB with a cosmetic blemish. Omers 'back East' customer would be happy, I'd be happy and Omer would be happy.....ah, not so. As Omer was carefully examining the scope I'd brought in, he observed that there was a bit of debris on the reticle - at the 6 O Clock mark - I'd not seen this of course and it was totally his 'good catch'. Ooops. So ......now not only was there was no scope for the 'back East' customer but my pristine BNIB was not so pristine after all. I was pretty disappointed that Kahles QC hadn't caught the debris that Omer saw ( and I then confirmed ) but still in play was the other BNIB with 3 little marks under the turrets which I took home as - like I said - 3 tiny little marks were not an issue to me. This scope is Scope #3
Scope #3 - this scope sat until my build was ready. October 2017 comes around and I mounted it on new rifle and looked out at the hayfield out back and.... NO !! ... at the 2 O Clock position the was a "light spot" or "smudge"; hard to see - the light had to be just right - but it was there, it sure as hell wasn't my imagination !. Well, at this point I was simply done with Kahles and so off I went back to Omer's store. Poor guy, had just got back from a trip to Europe, was likely jet-lagged as all heck and I'm there whining and moaning about Kahles QC. Anyway, the scope was out of my possession - I was simply done with this manufacturer and Omer traded me out of it for a combo of a Steiner T5Xi and cash.
Now at this point I'd like to make it totally clear that throughout this process Omer went
above and beyond. He was absolutely great to deal with and none of the issues were
in any way his fault. Omer did his level best to look after me and my best guess is that there was a 'bad batch' of these scopes that slipped through Swaro/Kahles QC and I was just unlucky. Regardless of how or why I observed problems though, the fact remains that I've had three Kahles 624i's in my possession and all three were, in some way, defective so my confidence in the brand is shot. This doesn't mean you shouldn't buy one or that you should buy one - it is just one guys experience. Yes, I have also heard that my experience is too small a sample size to be relevant
BUT here is the thing: I have the following
quality scopes: 2x S+B PMii, 3 x Vortex Razor II, 2x NF ATACR, 1x U S Optics and the following
mid-range scopes: 1x Sightron SVSS, 1x Athlon Cronus BTR, 1x Steiner T5xi, 2x Burris XTR, 5 x Bushnell DMR/HDMR. Lots of glass eh - lots of money's worth of glass and, while I like some more than others, guess how many have lens, glass, turrets, tracking, or other problems ??? ....ZERO, yes, not a single one. So, am I right to speak up about my experience with Kahles ? It's your money, you decide.
