I really wanted to love these, but... - Steiner Predator 8 2-16x42mm Rifle Scope, 30mm Tube, Second Focal Plane

My first impressions with the 2-16x version of this scope was so mediocre that I actually exchanged the first one thinking that it had to be defective (the shipping box arrived utterly mangled, so I presumed it may have been damaged). However, upon receiving the replacement, it was identical to the first in every way.

First, the good: Mechanically superb and excellent user-interface. Build quality feels great. I love the feel, grippiness, and and light / smooth turning of the rubberized magnification ring. The turrets are perfectly sized and textured, and feel and sound excellent. The finish is very good, and the size and weight are both quite reasonable for this type of scope. It seems to have very acceptable light transmission for an 8:1 zoom with a modest objective diameter. Field of view seems on-par with similar optics in this category.

The mediocre: The turret markings don't line up well with the markings on the body, almost 1/4 turn off on elevation and slightly less on windage. I'm able to overlook this, but it's annoying. The flip caps are trash... the ocular lens cover doesn't even stay on right out of the box, and pops off the moment you try to open it. The eyebox is acceptable, but not great. The image is reasonably flat, but there is some distortion.

Finally, the ugly: Optical performance is deal-breaking. Both of these scopes exhibited poor color fidelity and mild discoloration, with a noticeable yellowish-orange tint on lighter-colored objects, and a subtly hazy appearance which got worse in harsher lighting conditions but remained apparent all the way through last light. There is obvious chromatic aberration around high-contrast objects. Worst of all, the depth of field is extremely shallow. Transitioning between targets at varying ranges, even just by 50 yards or less out to about 300 yards, causes dramatically out-of-focus near or far images, necessitating constant fidgeting with the side focus, and the glass just doesn't resolve well at all. It lacks the sharpness and clarity of optics even 1/3rd of its price regardless of how tediously you fine-tune the parallax and diopter adjustments.