For hunting: Zeiss Conquest V6 3-18x50 or ???

I've got an Montana Rifle Co X3 in 26 Nosler. This will be used for western hunting of pronghorns, mule deer, and possibly elk, on the plains and the Rocky Mountains. Maximum shot distance will be on the order of 600 yards. Reticle would probably be the ZMOA-2. Prefer second focal plane. While not necessarily a "set and forget" application, I don't planning on doing any "extreme" dialing.

I already have a Zeiss Conquest V4 4-16x44 on another rifle, that I am happy with. But, I'd be interested in stepping up a little in features and quality for this new X3 rifle.

Budget is $1500, plus or minus a few hundred $$; maybe a little more if I find something I really like.

From doing internet research, handling a V6 in the store, and my experience with the V4, I am thinking the V6 3-18x50 could be just what I want.

Since the V6 3-18x50 does look good to me for my application and budget, what other scopes are comparable and warrant me taking a hard look at before committing to the Zeiss?

I run the Zeiss as mentioned and very happy with it. The only other choice MAY be a Leupold VX6.

Without stepping up a tier I believe it is on of the best scopes in that range. I have both the V4 and V6. Great scopes. Actually selling one in the classifieds if interested. I'm replacing with a Tangent Theta

https://www.longrangehunting.com/threads/v6-3-18x50-z-moa.213904/#post-1553830

FWIW: I like the Leupold VX6 so much I bought 5 of them for my long range hunting guns. I only bought one of the HD version as it came out after I bought the other four and it is, indeed, a half step better, hat with the several new features, but the glass is more than good enough on all of them for any hunting application I've ever encountered. All mine are 4-24x version. All were chosen over the other possibilities because they have same-class-glass and are a lot lighter in weight than their competition. Plus Leupold is really good about warranty repairs. I must own at least 25 of their scopes and I've never had a complaint about any of them. Plus an American company, etc., etc. My benchrest guns are a different story but Leupold for everything else.

I like my V6 3-18. Would recommend it.

I have both the Zeiss V6 & Luepold VX6HD & VX-5HD, the two Leupolds have the same glass but the VX-6HD has a few more features(internal level, illumination, 6x zoom vs 5x for the VX-5). All three have great glass, the Zero stop on the Leups is nice & easy as well as the internal level, weights are similar, Zeiss has ~100 MOA vs ~75MOA for the Leup, otherwise it may come down to your reticle choice

I like the idea but worry about carrying a rifle with exposed windage turrets.

I would say the mk5hd is close

I just ordered the v6 3-18x50 that you are talking about. I have the 4-16 v4 and am very happy with it. I mainly shoot nightforces but don't like the weight. Redhawk rifles in Grand Junction, CO usually has good deals on Zeiss scopes, especially the so called demos, which have full warranty as new. You might check them out. I have also had good luck with the Sig Whiskey 5 in the 3-15x44 MOA hunter milling reticle. They seem very well made and adjustments are dead on, illuminated, zero stop & level system. Good luck.

Consider warranty coverage when making your decision; Leupold is hard to beat in that area, as is Vortex. I have a Zeiss Conquest currently in for warranty and was advised it had an internal failure and could not be repaired.

The initial correspondence said it would be repaired or replaced. Zeiss is now only giving me two options; accept an inferior Terra scope and a Zeiss store voucher (which I don't need) or pay $300+ to upgrade to one of their V4 scopes. I had a similar replacement with a discontinued Leupold and they sent me the closest equivalent in their current lineup which was not a downgrade, and was actually a nice upgrade, at no cost to me. This speaks volumes for how they care about their customers.

cartmanea said:

Consider warranty coverage when making your decision; Leupold is hard to beat in that area, as is Vortex. I have a Zeiss Conquest currently in for warranty and was advised it had an internal failure and could not be repaired.

The initial correspondence said it would be repaired or replaced. Zeiss is now only giving me two options; accept an inferior Terra scope and a Zeiss store voucher (which I don't need) or pay $300+ to upgrade to one of their V4 scopes. I had a similar replacement with a discontinued Leupold and they sent me the closest equivalent in their current lineup which was not a downgrade, and was actually a nice upgrade, at no cost to me. This speaks volumes for how they care about their customers.

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I have a couple Zeiss HD5 and a V6. I think Zeiss should replace the Conquest with a V4 at no cost as the conquest/HD5 was basically just the older version of the V4.
If they are going to be cheap and screw people out of their warranty because they changed models I will quit buying their products.

Unfortunate that a high end brand like Zeiss would decide to "cheap out" on its warranty policy, since stellar warranty service is one component to convincing people the higher prices are worth the expense.

I've got a pair of super nice, and super expensive, Swarovski EL binocular's. Our new puppy decided he liked the texture and chewed them up, totally destroying the rubber exterior. I sent the destroyed binos to Swarovski, with full disclosure on what happened. Swarovski replaced the exterior, and went through and cleaned all the internals. All for free. That's the kind of service most people expect with the high-end optics brands. Zeiss won't be on "alpha brand", for much longer if they start nickel and diming people on warranty service, especially when the product is defective.

I had two older Conquest fail and Zeiss replaced both of them with the new model at the time which was the HD5. In both cases I had the new scopes a week after they received the return. Very satisfied.

I recently purchased a Sightron SIII 6-24x50 MOA-2 reticle. Compared it at last light to my Zeiss HD5 5-25x50 and it didn't give up anything to the Zeiss and at high magnification the Sightron has a more forgiving eye box. Shot it out to 525 a couple weeks ago and the turrets were spot on.

Have not looked through a Zeiss V6 yet.

VX5 or 6, huskemaw, or Zeiss you mentioned all good quality scopes for price you mentioned. I give Leupold the edge with warranty and scope clarity. Can't go wrong with any of those

shinbone said:

I've got a pair of super nice, and super expensive, Swarovski EL binocular's. Our new puppy decided he liked the texture and chewed them up, totally destroying the rubber exterior. I sent the destroyed binos to Swarovski, with full disclosure on what happened. Swarovski replaced the exterior, and went through and cleaned all the internals..

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Good thing you didn't have to spend another $4,000 to have the plastic removed from the pups small intestine like my buddy did. LOL