DO YOU LIKE YOUR ILLUMINATED SCOPE?

So most of my scopes have some sort of illumination. My favorite is just a dot in the middle of whatever reticle - like the firedot on a Leupold. I found that the scopes I have that illuminate the entire christmas tree or any other reticle can make it difficult to see the game/target in low light.

Its a must have for FFP scopes. At low power with a dark background good luck seeing the crosshairs.

Yes! it is handy to have if you need it. But I have never had to use it. I still like the option in case I'm out late or early and spot a target! Cmes in handy when it's starting to get dark or your out there early and a target shows up in the twilight!

FIGJAM, your last sentence is keerect! At low powers non-illuminated FFP reticles are very hard to see.

My Bushnell LRTS has 11 brightness settings. I think I can find one that will work in whatever low light situation I find myself.

Eric B.

I get twice as many kills on hogs because I have it than any of the other hunters on my lease.

overcast days, close to end of light they are really handy, especially on moose or black bear

I would err on the side of excellent glass first. Weight savings, I walk a lot. I've shot at first and last light and never had a problem seeing the crosshairs. On my guns and the kids guns it's all swaro/ Zeiss. I always kill the batteries anyway.

Litehiker said:

Question #2-> Have you ever had the need to use the illuminated reticle?

I just bought my 1st illuminated reticle, the Bushnell Elite LRTS 4.5 - 18 x 44. It has a 30 mm tube, FFP, mil/mil with side focus and many illumination levels on a G3 "small Xmas tree" reticle.
Perfect for long distance hunting in Nevada.

Its mil/mil turrets & reticle were mandatory for me and the FFP reticle is necessary B/C I use a LRF 10 x 42 range finding binocular with ballistic calculator and I want to use the reticle at ANY power setting, not just the top one as you must do with a SFP scope if you want an accurate hold.

Eric B.

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Yes on Ffp. We always have ours on at lower mag because the turrets and subs are so thin.

I like illumination without batteries. I have a couple that require batteries to also include red dot scopes - green dot scopes too. I carry extra batteries when (as one said "skulking around") just in case. Interesting, huh, we have come a long way from having just a nice set of iron sites...and using them well out to 500yds.

gollygee said:

I get twice as many kills on hogs because I have it than any of the other hunters on my lease.

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Yes sir...same here. Late hog or even super early hogs on cloudy days it makes a huge difference.

BUT...the lowest setting can, on some scopes be too bright and wash out the scope with red or green.

Not all illuminated scopes are equal. If I find a scope that the lowest sething is too bright it goes! I can't tell you how many I have because I have a bunch, but all of the ones I have the lowest setting is just barely visible in daylight. If it's bright during the day, it most likely will be too bright at night.

Never used. I think it's more of a gimmick. If you can't see the reticle 99% of the time you can't see the target. I can see it being useful on low power options but not high power scopes. I try not to get it if its optional.

Before I bought the Bushnell LRTS I looked at other illuminated scopes, and of course that includes the SIG Tango6 I had ordered first.

I can say the following about the LRTS illumination:
1. It is every bit as good as the Tango6 illumination. I saw nothing better in the other scopes.
2. The ease of turning it off is appreciated. "OFF" os any click between the numbered settings. No need to crank the knob all the way past #1 to turn off.
4. My only gripe is that the numbers on the vertical mil reticle are not illuminated.
I'll live.
5. The LRTS uses the same lithium 2032 coin batteries as my backpacking headlamp and I always carry 4 extra.

And the glass of the Bushnell ELITE series is very good with no aberration or color fringing at the edges.
The ELITE XTR II 5 - 30 x 50 even goes one step better with ED glass throughout.

I like the IDEA of an illuminated reticle (when needed) but I hate the idea of batteries just sitting in the scope for years. Seems like they end up corroding and ruining whatever they are in. So...pull the battery? Put a fresh battery in every year? Something. But life gets in the way of these great ideas and inevitably something with a battery gets 'forgotten' and then...corrosion takes place or, more simply, I go to turn the item on in a time of need and...dang it...battery is dead. I hate that. (Yes, I'm talking about the ubiquitous red dot sights we've all used at one time or another.)

An illuminated scope that doesn't need a battery really appeals to me. So if I were hunting hogs at night, or black bears over bait in a dark forest, or elk in deep/dark timber, I would need to find me a Trijicon Accupoint (illumination without a battery needed.) Does anyone have one of these? Are they awesome? Cruddy? Somewhere in the middle? Just curious. I've avoided the illuminated 'stuff' up to this point due to too many red dot sights being 'dead' when I needed them (or having corrosion from an old, discharged battery.) Ugh.

Frog, I've left mine for long periods of time in scopes like I described above. Quality scopes, not red dots. I like you found them dead all the time....that's why I don't own any. I'm not sure why they went dead but they do.

I don't use mine a lot so they don't get drained, which I'm guessing, that's why I have long life out of them.

I use solar powered...little spot lights on my feeder. Even though they don't put out much light I can see the hogs fine without any other external lights on the gun other than a dimly lit cross hair. Even at 9pm hogs are easy to see with the Athlon scopes I use...up to 6 of them now. You just need a tiny bit of light on the cross hairs.

CaptnC said:

<SNIPPED>I use solar powered...little spot lights on my feeder. Even though they don't put out much light I can see the hogs fine without any other external lights on the gun other than a dimly lit cross hair. Even at 9pm hogs are easy to see with the Athlon scopes I use...up to 6 of them now. You just need a tiny bit of light on the cross hairs.

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Hey CaptnC, your setup on hogs sounds like the one I was using down near Dilley, TX; battery powered green LEDs shining on/around the feeder. They put out enough light that I could see through the scope (Zeiss Conquest) well enough to find the cross-hairs and head shoot the hogs from the blinds. Just for giggles, I'd try to pick-up hogs not in the LEDs and it was hit or miss if I could see the reticle or not. If it was a full-moon, I could have shot hogs all night without any artificial light, at least with that particular scope. A good, high light transmission optic is a joy under those circumstances.

But I can totally see how a glowing red dot or crosshair would make it just that much easier to see the aiming point and make the shot under some adverse conditions. The thing is, if it takes a battery, I'm just not into it. For what it is worth, for any and all daytime (legal hours) hunting I've done, there was never a time I looked through the scope and couldn't find the cross hair to place on the game animal, BUT I think about Alibiiv's example (see below) and think, "Now that is one time I could totally see a need for an illuminated reticle." Black bear. Dark woods. Black cross hairs disappearing on the bears fur...not going to find a black, non-illuminated reticle under those circumstances! It's great companies provide us so many options so people can pick an optic that works for their hunting environment.

Alibiiv said:

<SNIPPED STUFF>I hunt black bear in Maine. Most of the shots are close to the end of shooting time, black overcast forest, black bear and dark environment makes the shots difficult. <SNIPPED STUFF> The last bear that I shot was looking at me but quartering to my left. I could see the silhouette of the bear, but could not see any detail of the body, and I couldn't see the crosshairs against the bear's coat.<SNIPPED STUFF>

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