New shooter ? about sunshades for hunting

[Red 1]

My question is, are they worth the hassle for hunting? Most of the shooting I do is either early morning or late evening since that is when I see the majority of game, and I know this is a subjective topic but I was wanting to know what you guys think. I never seem to even take the sunshade anywhere.

 

[Sully2]

Boy! Was that ever a dumb answer....LOL

 

[Broz]

At the minimum get polarized glass. And the first time you get snapped in the eyeball in underbrush and arent wearing....I bet you'll give $500 for a pair...

What??????

 

[MudRunner2005]

At the minimum get polarized glass. And the first time you get snapped in the eyeball in underbrush and arent wearing....I bet you'll give $500 for a pair...

Hey Sully, I'm pretty sure he's talkin about the sunshade for his scope, not sunglasses. LOL

And to answer the question, it's all personal preference. Some scopes don't need them with ultra-high quality glass and lens coatings. For example, my cheap scopes need them, but my Zeiss and Kahles scopes do not, because of superior lens coatings and polarization to keep glare, refraction, and eclipsing to a minimum.

 

[westcliffe01]

I try not to leave mine on my scope. If I know I am going to do something that will have me pointed close to the sun I bring it along and mount it when I get there. My steel targets are set up in a direction that is great in the morning, but close to the sun on summer evenings. Usually in a hunting scenario the last place you want to be is with the sun in your face and the prey in the shade, but it is not 100% avoidable.

My main concern is that a 6" long extension is a pretty good lever arm to torque on the scope with if you get it snagged.

 

[Sully2]

My question is, are they worth the hassle for hunting? Most of the shooting I do is either early morning or late evening since that is when I see the majority of game, and I know this is a subjective topic but I was wanting to know what you guys think. I never seem to even take the sunshade anywhere.

Well...if I can fall back and punt...( geeze)...I have them but only ever use them on varmint rifles when I may be out in bright sunlight. Ya never need any early or late because you wont get any mirage at those times of day...

 

[Sully2]

Hey Sully, I'm pretty sure he's talkin about the sunshade for his scope, not sunglasses. LOL

Ya think maybe?.....lol

 

[Red 1]

Hey Sully, I'm pretty sure he's talkin about the sunshade for his scope, not sunglasses. LOL

And to answer the question, it's all personal preference. Some scopes don't need them with ultra-high quality glass and lens coatings. For example, my cheap scopes need them, but my Zeiss and Kahles scopes do not, because of superior lens coatings and polarization to keep glare, refraction, and eclipsing to a minimum.

Yes I was talking about the sunshade on my scopes, and I was thinking the only time I might use it would be at the range or on a varmit hunt I just couldnt see bringing on a hunt were space is a concern. Thanks guys.

 

[bruce_ventura]

...Some scopes don't need them with ultra-high quality glass and lens coatings. For example, my cheap scopes need them, but my Zeiss and Kahles scopes do not, because of superior lens coatings and polarization to keep glare, refraction, and eclipsing to a minimum.

I agree. If the the scope has a stray light problem, a sunshade will usually help reduce the glare and increase image contrast. Glare is usually worse for high mag scopes (that is, usually worse for a 6-24x than a 2.5-10x, for example), and gets worse as the magnification is increased. Some brands have much lower glare than others.

In this area, you tend to get what you pay for, although there are exceptions, both good and bad. Good scopes will usually have extra "glare stops" and ultra-low reflectance black coatings inside the scope. It's often the lack of glare that makes a high quality scope have such a "clear" image.

Whether or not you need a sunshade depends somewhat on the glare performance without one. To test for stray light problems, I usually look at dark objects with bright light in the upper half of the image, or just outside the field of view. Overcast sky during the day or a street lamp at night are good sources of bright light. Then I vary the magnification from one limit to the other.

If the glare washes out or obscures the image at high magnification, I try it again with the sunshade on. Sometimes, even a sunshade isn't enough to solve a bad glare problem.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Ya think maybe?.....lol

Sorry, but that was pretty funny...I had to comment.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I agree. If the the scope has a stray light problem, a sunshade will usually help reduce the glare and increase image contrast. Glare is usually worse for high mag scopes (that is, usually worse for a 6-24x than a 2.5-10x, for example), and gets worse as the magnification is increased. Some brands have much lower glare than others.

In this area, you tend to get what you pay for, although there are exceptions, both good and bad. Good scopes will usually have extra "glare stops" and ultra-low reflectance black coatings inside the scope. It's often the lack of glare that makes a high quality scope have such a "clear" image.

Whether or not you need a sunshade depends somewhat on the glare performance without one. To test for stray light problems, I usually look at dark objects with bright light in the upper half of the image, or just outside the field of view. Overcast sky during the day or a street lamp at night are good sources of bright light. Then I vary the magnification from one limit to the other.

If the glare washes out or obscures the image at high magnification, I try it again with the sunshade on. Sometimes, even a sunshade isn't enough to solve a bad glare problem.

Bruce, I have found this to be especially true with some of my very inexpensive scopes ($100-250). My cheaper scopes ($250-500 range) seem to not be quite as bad. And my mid-range scopes ($500-1,000) seem to not have any trouble at all. And my high end scopes ($1,000+) the issue is just non-existant unless peering into direct sunlight, and even then you can tell a big difference in the scope price ranges.

 

[bruce_ventura]

Bruce, I have found this to be especially true with some of my very inexpensive scopes ($100-250). My cheaper scopes ($250-500 range) seem to not be quite as bad. And my mid-range scopes ($500-1,000) seem to not have any trouble at all. And my high end scopes ($1,000+) the issue is just non-existant unless peering into direct sunlight, and even then you can tell a big difference in the scope price ranges.

That's similar to my experience too. However, I have found scopes in the $250-1,000 range that are well above average and others well below average in glare performance. This is an area of scope performance that a big game hunter should pay attention to.

 

[MudRunner2005]

That's similar to my experience too. However, I have found scopes in the $250-1,000 range that are well above average and others well below average in glare performance. This is an area of scope performance that a big game hunter should pay attention to.

This is also true. I have some cheaper scopes that seem to be above average quality for its price range, and have owned high-dollar scopes that weren't worth the money (my Nikon Tactical experience). Occasionally you do get more than what you pay for. I have found this to be true with my Konus M-30. It continues to impress me for a $350 scope.

 

[Red 1]

Bob thanks that helps I will try it out and see if there are any issues that come up. I dont think I'm going to have any or I probably would have been using them more already.