School me on how to evaluate the quality of rifle scope glass

[Orange Dust]

Low light conditions is what separates the good from the mediocre. The better the glass, the better the light transmission at the end of the day. The quality of the coatings is another factor. And finally, the overall build quality. Much like anything else, you gets what you pays for. All boils down to what your intended use is and ultimately, for most of us, your budget and how much you are prepared to pay.

Light transmission becomes much more important as your eyes age. As I have gotten older it seems like I have to have a $3500 scope to see as well late as I could in my younger years with a VX3. Your eyes will tell you what you need to know, and what's "Good Enough" now may not be later in life. The really high end optics are a real joy for any set of eyes. There's not a lot of difference between a $500 and a $1000 scope. There is a huge difference between a $1000 scope and a $3500 one. Resolution and low light performance are much better with the high end stuff. Do you need to be able to see bullet holes @600yds? Most likely not. Do you need to be able to count the points on a buck after legal shooting hours? Again most likely not. As your eyes age you will want everything you can get, and be willing to pay whatever you have to, to do so.

 

[5.56×250]

I think clarity is important . I dont however put clarity at the top of MY list of important features. For me, tracking accuracy and toughness are more important by a huge margin. Decent glass is a great feature to help judge a trophy or spot a hit on paper, but good binos will cover you on those needs, but a scopes main job is aquiring zero, holding that zero through rough treatment, and having the ability to return to base line zero after dialing up for longet shots. The best way to determine those abilities is through testing on the range.
It really amazes me how much attention is given to optical clarity and how little attention is actually given to what the scope is intended to do, allow you to repeatably hit your target.

My point with this post wasnt to change the subject from the OPs original question....
It was to give food for thought on what upu should test FIRST . Checking clarity on several random scopes is a waste of time, IMHO, unless the scopes being tested for clarity are first culled through to make sure they track and hold zero . What good comes from finding the clearest scope if its best attribute is giving you beautiful resolution of your miss because you slipped and fell on it on the way to that once in a lifetime trophy ?

 

[Orange Dust]

My point with this post wasnt to change the subject from the OPs original question....
It was to give food for thought on what upu should test FIRST . Checking clarity on several random scopes is a waste of time, IMHO, unless the scopes being tested for clarity are first culled through to make sure they track and hold zero . What good comes from finding the clearest scope if its best attribute is giving you beautiful resolution of your miss because you slipped and fell on it on the way to that once in a lifetime trophy ?

SB, Kahles, high end NF and TT seldom have those issues.

 

[cloverleafs]

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Obvious difference in clarity. Thank you for posting.

 

[hpmag308]

I have seven scopes lined up and have been looking through them all morning trying to learn and see the difference in high'ish quality glass vs low quality glass and guess I have to admit I'm not sure what all to really look for. I read comments on forums about how this glass is better than that glass and then another person comes along and says the complete opposite. I understand everyones eyes are different so that brings me to this point to where I would like to see for myself.

This line up is not apples to apples. Its a mix of what I have. The lineup consists of a cheap Bushnell 3-9x40, Leupold VX-3 2-10x40, Athlon Midas TAC 6-24x50 FFP, Bushnell LRHSi 4.5-18x44 FFP, Vortex Viper PST Gen 2 5-25x50 FFP, Vortex Razor LHT 3-15x42 SFP and last is a Vortex Razor AMG 6-24x50 FFP.

If a person was to google the Viper PST vs the Razor AMG the results would most likely be that the AMG is night and day difference and the PST glass is useless etc, but I honestly cant see it. I suppose it's because I don't know what to look for or I'm not looking at the correct type of stuff and the proper distances. What I can see looking at a license plate at about 100yds is the cheap Bushnell is somewhat blurry. I cant make out the cars model name and the the picture is dull looking, but thats also a $40 scope. The Midas TAC has a bad fish eye effect when zoomed to 24x. Between the others, LHRSi, LHT, PST AMG, I don't see much difference when I feel like I should be able to. Some "eye opening" tips, advice, comments would help. Thanks

Go look through some German optics,you will see the difference

 

[5gauss]

I really don't have an answer to your question. But do have some comments. Seems like what one person calls a good scope the next person doesn't agree. And I think that each person believes what they are saying. Not sure if if this is because different eyes see things differently or knowledge of how to adjust a scope is lacking or? I believe that some of what you are paying for in higher priced scopes is dependability. For instance, in my opinion nightforce nxs has good glass but probably not the best that you can get in that price range, but again in my opinion you are going to be hard pressed to find a more dependable scope. Recently I have been looking to upgrade my binoculars. Mine are getting a little age on them and with all the new technology thought maybe it's time for an upgrade. I have been trying to read everything thing I can about the higher end binoculars. And I'm not saying I'm right but to me this means Zeiss, Swarovski and Leica. If you goggle best 10 power binoculars you will find all kinds of articles. Top 5 binoculars. Best quality binoculars. Top 10 binoculars. ECT, etc. And bottom line is more than likely there won't even be a Zeiss, Swarovski or Leica mentioned. I'm not knocking other brands, but it does make me wonder. Again I know it's not any kind of answer. Good luck with your search.

Yes...all glass is pretty good these days but some better than others. There is much more than glass quality to consider....