Budget friendly LPVO options?

zygtac

zygtac

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Been considering putting an LPVO on my X95 such as the Sig Tango 1-6 or Primary Arms NOVA 1-6 but theyre out of stock everywhere.

Can anyone with experience with them or even other LPVOs tell me their thoughts on them? Glass quality, illumination, what mounts, etc? Thanks.
 
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The Arken really set the bar recently. Bushnell has a decent 1-6 & 1-8 but are heavy and aren’t necessarily day light bright and the FFP versions are a good chunk more. The only downside I see to the Arken is that it has a silly reticle. I imagine you could get used to it and learn to use it according but I’d Much prefer .2 to .5 mil marks down a standard line than the Tetris effect going on with that bad boy. I’m still waiting to grab one in hopes they put out a mil reticle version.
 
confused why these optics are always so darn heavy, when a hunting scope with the same zoom can weight 30% less.

There was a westhunter on GP local to me for $70, seemed like a good find but not for me.
 
Buy a Burris RT-6 and be happy about it. I was running Strike Eagles on my 3-gun rigs, but am switching to Burris. Better glass for the money, better reticle (For competition shooting, IMO. Might not be ideal for you depending on what you want to do with it).
 
Forget all of the "no name" brands and low-Priced Amazon junk. Buy yourself an Arken EP8 from one of the Site Sponsores such as "Go Big Tactical". That will get you maximum value for your budget LPVO dollar at $500 even, offering many higher-end features such as 34mm Tube, First-Focal Plane, ED glass, integrated Throw-Lever, Intuitive "Killbox" Reticle, and so on. You can pick up Arken's perfectly good 34mm Cantilever Mount for another $100 and consider yourself done!

I own, or have owned, most of the LPVOs on the market, ranging from the $2K EoTech Vudu 1-10x, to the $500 Arken 1-8x
28mm and most of what is in between. I just recently reconciled my LPVO fleet, which was all over the map in terms of quality and magnification range. When all was said and done with the outliers sold off to buy alternatives, I ended up with a handful of higher end LPVOs and no less than 4 of the Arken 1-8x "budget" scopes. Needless to say, the Arken 1-8x is a genuine bargain as far as I am concerned!

Just check out any of the many positive reviews of the Arken EP-8 on YouTube. There is a very good reason that they are difficult (but not impossible), to find on-line....


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I second the Bushnell Elite 4500 1-4X24 Multi X scope. Very underated scope.
Clear picture, massive eye relief, tactile capped turrets, short and light weight for a 30mm LPVO. Extremely forgiving eyebox.
Also (assuming 62gn at 3050fps) if you set a 35Yd near zero the center crosshair puts shots on target within an 8 inch circle from 0 to 300 yards. Top of bottom post is 400 yards.
KISS principle is best in my opinion.

Cheers
 
I've personally had lots of experience with offshore brands, when I was doing reviews for airgun products I was sent many different brands from Chinese Manufacturers. Some were so bad I wouldn't even review, and either offered to send back or sold them.

Vector Optics is "decent" for the price, they're still a low end optic, but if you're on a budget they're going to perform well for the price. I've heard a few times they make some major companies lower end scopes.

Having said all of that, I'm still on the hunt for a scope for my APC223, the vector isn't cutting it for me.
 
northballistics said:
I've personally had lots of experience with offshore brands..... .....Having said all of that, I'm still on the hunt for a scope for my APC223, the vector isn't cutting it for me.
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Well, I have said my piece and given you the Budget LPVO answer. Short of holding hands, there is not much more that I can do to help you see the light regarding the Arken EP-8. Good luck with your "hunt" for the solution...
 
Bartok5 said:
Well, I have said my piece and given you the Budget LPVO answer. Short of holding hands, there is not much more that I can do to help you see the light regarding the Arken EP-8. Good luck with your "hunt" for the solution...
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You've convinced me Bartok5, thanks for the tip. I really hope few are paying attention, as it will only make sourcing them harder.
 
I picked up an Arken EP8 a couple weeks ago, here is my quick take.
Pros - no fisheye, the image is flat. It's not a perfect 1x, but it's close. For $500 the glass is pretty good. It's not as sharp as the 1-6 PST, but it's nearly half the price. Its a tiny bit darker image than the PST, but not enough to care, and there's alot less CA than I was expecting for the price. The glass is way better than the strike eagle in terms of resolution and lack of distortion, and it has less fisheye than the RT6.
In terms of controls everything is very smooth except the illumination knob. That was stiff as hell out of the box but has loosened up. It feels higher quality than the pricetag suggests. Way too early to judge durability, but it's on a plinker and won't see abuse.
Cons: At 1x the center "dot" is more of a smudge than a sharp dot, and is not easy to see without illumination turned on. Not a huge surprise for a FFP scope, but it's way harder to see the center dot at 1x on the EP8 than my buddy's 1-10 gen 3 razor. The illumination isn't "daylight bright", but is daylight visible. Wish it was a little brighter, but was expecting way less. Its useable and doesn't bloom too bad at max. There is no off position between illumination settings, you need to rotate all the way back to 0 to turn it off. Annoying, but it's a $500 scope. Lastly, the eyebox is on the tight side. Even at 1x. It can be used both eyes open, but if your cheek weld is soft you can lose image as you move. Not as forgiving as the PST and more expensive scopes.
For $500 the EP8 isn't bad at all. I haven't touched anything yet under the 1-6 PST that matches it. It would be interesting to see how it fares against the new gen PA with the Nova reticle, 1-10 Helos BTR etc.
 
Unholysavage said:
I picked up an Arken EP8 a couple weeks ago, here is my quick take.
Pros - no fisheye, the image is flat. It's not a perfect 1x, but it's close. For $500 the glass is pretty good. It's not as sharp as the 1-6 PST, but it's nearly half the price. Its a tiny bit darker image than the PST, but not enough to care, and there's alot less CA than I was expecting for the price. The glass is way better than the strike eagle in terms of resolution and lack of distortion, and it has less fisheye than the RT6.
In terms of controls everything is very smooth except the illumination knob. That was stiff as hell out of the box but has loosened up. It feels higher quality than the pricetag suggests. Way too early to judge durability, but it's on a plinker and won't see abuse.
Cons: At 1x the center "dot" is more of a smudge than a sharp dot, and is not easy to see without illumination turned on. Not a huge surprise for a FFP scope, but it's way harder to see the center dot at 1x on the EP8 than my buddy's 1-10 gen 3 razor. The illumination isn't "daylight bright", but is daylight visible. Wish it was a little brighter, but was expecting way less. Its useable and doesn't bloom too bad at max. There is no off position between illumination settings, you need to rotate all the way back to 0 to turn it off. Annoying, but it's a $500 scope. Lastly, the eyebox is on the tight side. Even at 1x. It can be used both eyes open, but if your cheek weld is soft you can lose image as you move. Not as forgiving as the PST and more expensive scopes.
For $500 the EP8 isn't bad at all. I haven't touched anything yet under the 1-6 PST that matches it. It would be interesting to see how it fares against the new gen PA with the Nova reticle, 1-10 Helos BTR etc.
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The new PA Nova has my interest as well, looks like a nice hunting and general shooting reticle.

The EP8 killbox is clearly designed for CQB at 1x where it's not so much a fine center point aiming solution but more of a quickly center the target in the circle and pull the trigger procedure.

The "center dot" of the EP8 at 1x is not a dot but just a scrunched up shrunken view of the ranging ladder.
 
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