I also bought an Optika 6 not too long ago but an now worried about their warranty since the company recently got sold.
$1000 or less Hunting scope advice for Rem 700 30.06
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Take a look at the Arken ELP-4. I took a chance and picked one up a few months ago for a 6.5 Grendel build. I can honestly say that I like it more than the Nightforce scopes I have shot through. The glass is not quite as good as the Nightforce, there is a little chromatic aberration in very bright conditions but you have to be looking for it to notice. I like the turrets, zero stop, reticle and illumination more on the Arken.
Under $1000.
Natchez has Burris 3x15x50 Veracity and others under $750. They also have the Veracity PH under $750. Eurooptics has the Burris XTRIII at $900.
I have one of the older arken EPL4 4x16. I had to send the first 1 back because after about 30rounds from a 338 win mag a blob of something was inside on the glass. Once I got the new on I compared it to my Burris Veracity 3x15 and the color clarity and image wasn't as good on thr Arken. It still seems pretty nice for a $400 scope, but I have bought 3x15 Veracity for $500 before. I have 3 and so far have never had to send 1 back. I have had 1 arken and it already was replaced under warranty. It was easy to deal with Arken, but I still don't love that it had an issue in 30rds.
I have a Vortex 6X24X50 HSLR that I am not in love with either. Not a bad scope, but the glass gets very milky at higher power in n the sun.
If you want to sharpen up the image quality on high magnification try stuffing the attached sunshade with the tubular protector foam it came with to restrict some of the light coming into the front end. It really helps with clearing up image quality as well as giving a much better depth of field too.
May sound crazy but it certainly works with my EP5s with the foam sticking out of the sunshade about little over an inch or so. Found this out by accident. Pulled the sunshade off of the scope straight from the box and screwed it onto the scope with the foam protector still inside the sunshade and wow crystal clear on maximum magnification just like my Tract Toric ELR and Athlon Cronus BTR. You can try extending the foam more outward to lengthen the restriction to see what works best in your conditions. Most noticeable when doing so on the brightest days to make the chromatic aberration go away.
May sound crazy but it certainly works with my EP5s with the foam sticking out of the sunshade about little over an inch or so. Found this out by accident. Pulled the sunshade off of the scope straight from the box and screwed it onto the scope with the foam protector still inside the sunshade and wow crystal clear on maximum magnification just like my Tract Toric ELR and Athlon Cronus BTR. You can try extending the foam more outward to lengthen the restriction to see what works best in your conditions. Most noticeable when doing so on the brightest days to make the chromatic aberration go away.
bomberodevil
Well-Known Member
"I have my own reservations about Bushnell, Athlon, Zeiss, Burris, Riton, and Blackhound (there's more but this is just off of the top of my head) in regards to actually honoring their lifetime warranty and the time it may actually take to get a repair or replacement."
What negative experience have you personally had or have heard about regarding the Athlon scopes? I have two, and I haven't needed any service, and I haven't heard about any negative warranty issues.
What negative experience have you personally had or have heard about regarding the Athlon scopes? I have two, and I haven't needed any service, and I haven't heard about any negative warranty issues.
jbo829
Well-Known Member
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I didnt know they sold out
They wouldn't repair nor replace a defective Cronus scope that Illumination was defective since brand new.
bomberodevil
Well-Known Member
Fair enough, you have good reason to not be impressed with Athlon's customer service record. Have you also had negative experiences with the other 5 companies you named in your post?
LBEdgin
Well-Known Member
Just had a 1st rate dealing with US OPTICS customer service. I send one of my TS model scopes in to have the sloppest fixed in my parlex adjustment. They send me a repaid box from UPS, inwhich I mailed it in. After a week I called to make sure they got it. And the first thing they did was apologize that the scope wasn't fix yet. They told me they were waiting on the crosshairs to come in, I told them I would change crosshairs if they liked as I had found some I liked much better which they did and shipped back within a week and charged me nothing at all. You may want to check out the TS models, as I have three of them, other than the parlex getting sloppy on one of them is the only problem I have had. They track great and very clear. I brought them from Euro OPTICS for less than $800.
nksmfamjp
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This is an image from a Tract Toric 4-20x.
When shooting at 4-8x, I'm usually 0-300 yds away. Evelvation dope is literally 0.4 mil. Are you saying you cannot make that hold off center with the left image? That is a 4x image. Honestly, I'm generally holding center of reticle or dialing to 10-12x to get 300-600yd reticle shots.
So, can people not find the center point of the reticle on the left?
or is it the reticles that are thin or outlines on the outside?
I could if I wanted to. But I would have had to illuminate the reticle. I have made many shots out to 400+ with my old straight 8 x 56 Kahles that didnt dial. Many times. But honestly I prefer the reticle on the right and I prefer 2nd focal scopes. Usually at 300 Im at 12 to16 power. A huge turnoff for me with either of the above reticles is they illuminate a large part if not all of the reticle. I prefer a center dot or cross only Illumination. The reticle that I looked at in the 1st focal Vortex just did not did not impress me. It's reticle for me at low power simply was not usable with my eyes. I do wear glasses but the vortex reticle was not as visible as the left reticle above.
Had to use Bushnell warranty and it was a mixed bag for sure. They replaced a Japanese made Bushnell scope with a much cheaper Chinese made one that was inferior than the one I sent in. I also had several defective high end Chinese Bushnell scopes they would not replace or repair because they were discontinued. Several relatives as well as some shooting buddies sent in their Bushnell binoculars with problems of varying tier and price levels and some were returned still broken without explanation while others were only offered a discount towards buying new replacements so much for Bushnell's lifetime warranty huh? No replacement nor repaired binoculars offered and their extremely poor warranty and customer service ratings are well deserved. Riton scope sent in then return stating nothing wrong but still blurry. I'm not the only one I know that had this done to them. Riton now owns Blackhound. They also make all kinds of excuses to not have customers send their defective Ritons in for warranty and like to tell them to just return them to place of purchase. I don't trust Zeiss because Ilya wasn't impressed with their warranty and QC and the recent string of LRP S3s that needed to be sent in and in several instances multiple times in less than a year. I would really worry how long it would actually take for warranty repair if and when having to send overseas to Germany too. I do not have such worry with the Vortex Razor Gen 3 I bought if I need the quickest turnaround time for warranty and Vortex even sends a prepaid return shipping label for warranty. Arken does the sake with prepaid return shipping label whenever warranty is needed but their communication isn't as quick as Vortex. I think only Vortex and Arken sends prepaid return shipping labels when their customers need to send in their scopes for warranty.
Everyone has the right to spend their hard earned money on whatever brands they choose as long as they are well aware of any possible consequences. All it takes is one bad warranty experience shame on you but keep buying from the same brand after getting screwed over shame on me just asking to be bent over again. But some people really like it from behind.
For me from now on, it's Arken EP5s and EPL4s and anything Vortex Razor line and Nightforce NX8s. Maybe another 34mm Strike Eagle 3-18x44 and Kowas and Swarovski for serious binoculars and spotters.
Agree - good glass and rifle - one heck of a lot of Bang for the Buck. I feel the same way about Tikka.
swandme686
Member
Vortex all the way !!!
I actually really like the New additions Strike Eagle line a bunch
I am a Fire Arms instructor and have many rifles and while I love the Gen II and III glass there is not 2k in the budget for every rifle
Recently I have put on many of the 3-18 mRad units and they have performed beautifully
In my opinion its the perfect feature set for many duties especially AR platform
But …. If you want to keep weight down and step up a notch I love the LHT 4.5-22
It's a bit over your budget but a fantastic piece of glass and lightest in class.
