Impressed by quality - Leapers UTG 1-8x28mm Combat Rifle Scope

General comments: This is a very nice scope that satisfies close to medium range needs. For its price range the scope delivers great value.
Specific elements:
1. Reticle: mil dot calibrated at 10x which is standard, even though the scope maximum mag is 8. You can stil make conversions by multiplying the range formula by the magnification. The reticle is glass etched, very sharp, very thin as to not interfere with aligning with bullseye, but easy to see for fast acquisition of target. The reticle illumination is impressive and I am not talking about the 36 colors which are nice to have but wondering when I ll use them. At its maximum intensity the reticle is bright for fast acquisition but it is sharp with no aberrations or fussiness that I have seen in lower quality scopes. It is easily visible even for night or low light shooting. The reticle is the scope's strongest point.
2. Turrets: the turrets met all my expectations. Even though I wish they came in at 1/4 moa windage and elevation adjustments, they make up by offering accurate and predictable adjustments, as well as zero resetting with a locking mechanism. For example when I was sighting in my bullets grouped 5 inches right and 2 inches low at 50 yards. All I had to do was to turn 20 clicks left and 8 clicks up and I was dead center. With other lower quality scopes you have to first zero for windage and then for elevation separately. Now that the turrets are zeroed in they allow me to shoot +-2 inches from 0 to 250 yards. For longer distances I can easily adjust windage and elevation and the quickly return to my 0.
3. Magnification and magnification ring: at 1x the scope sports a generous eye relief and a huge exit pupil allowing for very fast and forgiving target acquisition when picking up the rifle and assuming your shooting position. At 8x the story is different. Eye relief drops to about 2.5-3 inches and the exit pupil is about 3.5 mm making a very precise cheek weld a must. You must therefore mount the scope on your rifle for 8x in a way you naturally assume your shooting position to optimize your target acquisition speed. Initially for me this required to mount the scope extending behind the charging handle interfering with its operation. After field tests I decided to move the scope forward and to collapse my stock to achieve proper eye relief for when I need 8x. This is frustrating, but the limitation comes from the diameter of the tube and the diameter of the objective and since I need a compact scope I have to live with with it. The magnification ring is easy to use, holds its set mag well, but it has a little bit of play back and forth left and right before it engages the zoom lense gears.
4. Mounting rings: here I wish utg included their one piece mounting ring sets that provide better support to the scope and more secure and reproducible installation and removal of the scope. Their quick disconnect (qd) mechanism is not as smooth as I hoped. As you close the the qd handles they provide the maximum tension when you are about half way or 45 degrees, and then they release tension when you close them completely. The result is that you have to increase the tension with the tension screw which results in having to put a tremendous effort to overcome the 45 degree threshold. This negates the quick disconnect benefit. I will probably have to replace the them at a point.
5. Lens protective caps: these fit snugly over the focus ring and over the sunshade. They are ping loaded and work as expected.
6. Othe smaller points: the tube in front of the objective lens has threads for installing an antireplection piece. The scope weighs average for its type, the lenses are clear, bright. It appears that the lenses make use most all of the internal tube diameter maximizing your field of view. The body appears to be hard anodized and painted black and is fairly scratch resistant, more so than my "mil spec" upper.

Overall, I am happy with this scope. It compares favorably to my much more expensive nikon prostaff.