Best low light glass?

edgecrum

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2021
Messages
5
Location
Louisiana
I'll start off by admitting the most expensive glass I've had the opportunity to personally test is the Leupopd VX5 HD. Most of my deer rifles wear various versions of the VX3. Comparing these to others based solely on low light for their prices I've not seen any that outperform. However my experience is limited to a few makes and models. How do other brands and models compare to these solely on low light ability?
 
Zeiss V6, Meota Meostar, and high end Minox are among the best low light you can buy. The VX-5 and VX-6 HD are very good as well.
Those are among the best in my experience. All bright eye-popping view with brilliant contrasting colors as well... basically in the same price range.
 
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Any top tier glass should have you shooting at all legal.hunting light.

But, it you want the brightest....
Schmidt & Bender 3-12×54 or 4-16×56 Ultra Bright.
Unless you want to sell your house and get a Hensoldt ZF 6-24×72...
Oh Yeah.. But those are in another class.
I'd have to sell more than my house for one of those! 😂
 
I've hunted southwest of Monroe along the Quachita River with friends from Franklin Farms.
Another really good hunting scope for the money is Burris.
I've used several for years and still have em mounted on rifles. They've been carried and used extensively and held zero since they were put on.
 
I own the following scopes and all are pretty dang good at low light:

Zeiss Diavari 6-24x56
Leupold VX6 3-18x50
Bushnell LRHS 4.5-18x44
Swarovski Z6i 3-18x50
S&B Klassik 3-12x50

There isn't a whole bunch of difference between them, all are very good glass. But the top two performers in that list are my Swaro Z6i and S&B Klassik, with the Schmidt taking the crown for low light. It doesn't do as good edge to edge (some tunneling as its FFP) and is horrible with glare, but at true "low light" it kicks ***.

But if I could only pick one, the Swarovski just excels at every metric you can possible measure for "glass".

Note: I will say, for the money, the dang Bushnell hangs in there pretty well, excellent glass for a budget.
 
If you can raise your budget to $900, Euro Optic has show room demos of the Leupold VX5HD 3-5x44 with the illuminated reticle. Leupold HD glass from my testing is excellent for low light. I hunt in Tennessee in both the woods and ag fields and I can see right up until legal ends. This is the scope I have on my gun.
 
I just had about a 7 page thread on this subject. I ended up with a Meopta Meostar R2 2.5-15x56. It is awesome in lowlight.
My BIL has a VX5 and several people are in amazement how much clearer and brighter the Meopta is than it.

Just the other day a guy posted that he has a VX6 and a Meopta Optika6. He says that you have to have them side by side to see that the Meopta is not as clear and bright at the edges of the scope. Otherwise the Optika is as good as the VX6 glass wise.
 

Here is my thread I started.
 
Lots of good reading in this thread!!!!
Bullmark seems to know his stuff on glass. Also on page three the guy tells about his VX6 vs Optika6.
 
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