Your favourite optics and why
- Thread starter hawkin user
- Start date
Wow, what an open ended question. I hope I don't create a ruckus, so here we go. IMHO depending on the type of shooting you are doing can dictate what brand and options will best suit you. I'm an ELR, hunting guy. Love SFP and MOA, sorry you PRS guys. Having said that I own and shoot 2 FFP mil scopes. On the HI end for me Nightforce hands down FFP, SFP NXS to ATACR, its all there, look no further. I've shot PMII love them. Swav's can't justify the price for the product. IOR awsome but again for the price give me a Nightforce. Tangent...well...superb, but that extra coin for those really minute perks not worth it. Mid level optics, which was really mind blowing to me were Vector Continental and Arken. Really good glass, eye boxes, crisp repeatable turrents, loads of dial, nice reticles, great price. Entry level, ready for it... Cabelas Covenant, all around pretty darn good. For 2 years I ran a 6- 24x50 FFP covenant on my sons 6.5 CM. He learned on that scope and was shooting out to a mile (1760) many a time. Its held its own in the cold, hunting and repetitive dialing up and down returning to zero every time. Yes side by side with the others you could see the differences, but on sale at $250 and awesome warranty how can you go wrong. Hope this helps. By the way, I'm really curious about the new upstart in Canada, APEX. Price point and build seems up there with the mid to high level guys, and features look really good. I'd love to put one through its paces. Cheers!!!
My favourite rifle scopes have been Leupold gold rings (Vari X III, VX-III, VX-3), but as I was able to afford higher end optics, I have also had good performance from Swarovski, Kahles, Trijicon, and Schmidt & Bender. Finally bought a couple scopes with illuminated reticles, and am looking at another.
For me, clarity, light transmission, eye relief, weight, ruggedness, reticle type and warranty are all important.
I prefer the duplex for a plain reticle, and really like the B&C and TDS/BRH reticles. Clean, simple and easy to use in the field.
Eye relief is important for those harder recoiling rifles. And lighter weight keeps them from wanting to come loose in the rings on the same rifles. (I do not use scopes with larger than 44mm objective lenses). Largest magnification I have owned to date is 3.5-18. Most are 3.5-10.
Leupold's lifetime warranty is a great feature that I have only used once, when I slipped and landed scope first on the rocks. Cost me postage one way, and had a repaired scope back on my rifle in 11 days with regular mail shipping both ways!
Have now used Swarovski warranty service twice:
Once to have my 19 year old SLC binos' eye cup repaired and checked over. They repaired and replaced most components for no charge, and I had it back in less than 3 months.
The other, there was something on the internal ocular lense only visible in bright sunlight against a white background (paper target). Paid shipping by mail one way. They replaced both ocular lenses, purged and tested the scope through a battery of tests and returned via mail to me in less than two months for no charge.
For binos, I can't say enough good things about my Swarovski SLC's! I also like my Leica Geovids 10x42 rangefinding binos. Was looking at the Swarovski EL Range 10x42's when I got a good deal on the Leica's and saved $1800.
I have an older Leupold 30x60 spotting scope, and when I get a higher end unit, it will be the Swarovski 20-60x60 spotting scope with angled eye piece. Side by side field comparisons beat out the Leica and Zeiss spotters of the same size for clarity, brightness and light transmission (at least to my eyes).
For me, clarity, light transmission, eye relief, weight, ruggedness, reticle type and warranty are all important.
I prefer the duplex for a plain reticle, and really like the B&C and TDS/BRH reticles. Clean, simple and easy to use in the field.
Eye relief is important for those harder recoiling rifles. And lighter weight keeps them from wanting to come loose in the rings on the same rifles. (I do not use scopes with larger than 44mm objective lenses). Largest magnification I have owned to date is 3.5-18. Most are 3.5-10.
Leupold's lifetime warranty is a great feature that I have only used once, when I slipped and landed scope first on the rocks. Cost me postage one way, and had a repaired scope back on my rifle in 11 days with regular mail shipping both ways!
Have now used Swarovski warranty service twice:
Once to have my 19 year old SLC binos' eye cup repaired and checked over. They repaired and replaced most components for no charge, and I had it back in less than 3 months.
The other, there was something on the internal ocular lense only visible in bright sunlight against a white background (paper target). Paid shipping by mail one way. They replaced both ocular lenses, purged and tested the scope through a battery of tests and returned via mail to me in less than two months for no charge.
For binos, I can't say enough good things about my Swarovski SLC's! I also like my Leica Geovids 10x42 rangefinding binos. Was looking at the Swarovski EL Range 10x42's when I got a good deal on the Leica's and saved $1800.
I have an older Leupold 30x60 spotting scope, and when I get a higher end unit, it will be the Swarovski 20-60x60 spotting scope with angled eye piece. Side by side field comparisons beat out the Leica and Zeiss spotters of the same size for clarity, brightness and light transmission (at least to my eyes).
