outdoorchrisb from United States, UT Public Profile

I compared this side by side with a Leupold VX-5HD 3-15x44 scope. The glass was equally clear all the way to the edges; the Leopold however, had a reticle that was way too thin at all magnification levels. The Leopold was like looking into a first focal plane without the benefit of the reticle growing as the magnification grew. This Vortex maintained a crisp clear image and reticle at all levels in all circumstances, the Leopold did not. So this scope won out. I also feel that this reticle is a nice blend for hunting and long-range shooting. Not quite a Christmas tree style so it was not quite as distracting in hunting situations but also able to magnify enough with solid reticle features to use out to 1k+ yards. It also includes 1/4 Moa adjustments for fine-tuning the long-range shots.

The reticle is too fine on this scope. It was like looking at a first focal plane scope reticle when fully zoomed out, except that it of course doesn't get thicker and more visible as you increase the magnification like a first focal does. This in many ways renders the reticle nearly useless, especially when looking into brush & trees, the reticle was often nearly entirely lost and sometime completely lost. If this had a thicker reticle I would have kept it. I compared it side by side with a Vortex Viper PST Gen 2 3-15x44 and there was no glass difference all, all the way to the edges but the Vortex had a much more clearly defined reticle at all ranges, aside from the additional benefit of the Vortex's additional feature of the illuminated reticle. I really would have liked to go with this scope, but it really didn't cut the mustard because the reticle was way too faint. It really was just like looking at a first focal plane scope where the reticle just gets too faint at the lower power, except this was just as faint at all powers. If Leupold fixed this, I'd give it a shot.