My wife swears I have a real knack for finding the best bang for my buck. I bought Vortex Viper bino's when they were half the cost they are now and my wife uses them on her hunts, Then I stumbled onto my Theron Bino's and they compete with optics that are 6-8x as much money. So I am always on a lookout for great deals on the new and upcoming.
After seeing a number of posts by bruce_ventura of highpoweroptics.com, a LRH sponsor, touting the Hawke scopes I payed attention. I have reviewed several optics and my views seamed to echo his. So I have been trying to find and get my hands on a Hawke Sidewinder for a while now to see if I agreed with the hype. I finally found some in UT.
I got to look through a 6-24x56 and a 8-32x56 sidewinder as well as a Varmint SF 3-12x44. The sidewinders had excellent optics. They were clear and had great color from edge to edge. I did see some color degridation when I got to the top end of the power ranges but it is hard to really say because at high power it is hard to stay still enough to look through. I was able to read street signs from several hundred yards away that I could barely even see with the naked eye. Glare was very good and a good step above the Viper PST IMHO. I think overall these scopes are way on par with scopes double thier cost. The fit and finish is good, not great, but good. They just don't quite have that finely polished type look that the major brands do. For this price though, more than on par and perfectly acceptable. The power ring was a bit stiff for my taste but I think it would lighten up some with some use. The turrets were perfect sized IMHO. easy to read and the clicks were good and sound. Overall I was very impressed with these scopes and I think are a real steal of a value right now. Only use will determine if they will hold up. The shop owner has been running one on his .338 Lapua for 6 months without a hitch he claims. While I was there he sold both of these scopes I looked at. Apparently I wasn't the only one that was impressed.
The Varmint scope I only looked at quickly and it was nice as well. The optics were good and clear. I was surprised by a sub a $200 scope!
I think my next scope will be a Hawke!!
After seeing a number of posts by bruce_ventura of highpoweroptics.com, a LRH sponsor, touting the Hawke scopes I payed attention. I have reviewed several optics and my views seamed to echo his. So I have been trying to find and get my hands on a Hawke Sidewinder for a while now to see if I agreed with the hype. I finally found some in UT.
I got to look through a 6-24x56 and a 8-32x56 sidewinder as well as a Varmint SF 3-12x44. The sidewinders had excellent optics. They were clear and had great color from edge to edge. I did see some color degridation when I got to the top end of the power ranges but it is hard to really say because at high power it is hard to stay still enough to look through. I was able to read street signs from several hundred yards away that I could barely even see with the naked eye. Glare was very good and a good step above the Viper PST IMHO. I think overall these scopes are way on par with scopes double thier cost. The fit and finish is good, not great, but good. They just don't quite have that finely polished type look that the major brands do. For this price though, more than on par and perfectly acceptable. The power ring was a bit stiff for my taste but I think it would lighten up some with some use. The turrets were perfect sized IMHO. easy to read and the clicks were good and sound. Overall I was very impressed with these scopes and I think are a real steal of a value right now. Only use will determine if they will hold up. The shop owner has been running one on his .338 Lapua for 6 months without a hitch he claims. While I was there he sold both of these scopes I looked at. Apparently I wasn't the only one that was impressed.
The Varmint scope I only looked at quickly and it was nice as well. The optics were good and clear. I was surprised by a sub a $200 scope!
I think my next scope will be a Hawke!!
