Arken Optics - new line

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Mr.H said:
...t will be compared to a couple Leupolds ($500) and a Nightforce SHV ($1000)
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I am very reserved with YT reviews.
On my Leshiy2 I am swapping two scopes depend what games I want to play. A 1-6 LPVO and a 8-32x60 Nikko. And I am printing my own scope tapes.
The Arken turret caps are tickling my attention, so if the glass is any good I may swap the scopes.
Very interested to heare from your comparison.
 
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bigHUN said:
This Arken glass clarity ... is it a wooow? or it is just good enough for the money?
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IMHO It’s good for the sale price, not at retail price. Under 1000 market is extremely saturated and very competitive. I think their asking price is way too high, their sale prices are relatively competitive.

How does one be sure there are Japanese lenses? If they put one cheap lens from Japan they can claim that. Good Chinese glass is on par with lower end Japanese lens so don’t pay for the marketing. I have Japanese scopes and unless you get to the higher end it’s not guaranteed amazing, plus I didn’t buy the scope to admire the target. There are far more variables than good glass to achieve my goal of hitting the part of the target I want to hit.
 
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qball said:
IMHO It’s good for the sale price, not at retail price. ...
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My 40 years background hobby is photography, and I learned to appreciate a good glass.
My scopes are Japanese (Falcon and Nikko and IO) right on the money, unfortunately I could never collect enough founds to surprise myself with a higher end German glass.
Not long ago I had one Chinese Brand (photography) lens in my hands and I was very pleasantly surprised. They can build good pieces if we ready to pay and they can build crap that cost less then a peanut.
Thanks for the imput, this what I expected when I saw the piece prise and the claim they using whatever glass.
 
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I'm fairly interested in this scope even though I've never owned an Arken and I think they are often overhyped. I refuse to go heavier than 2# for an air rifle optic which means that I've limited myself to 30mm tubes and 50mm objectives.

This scope for 400$ is quite the deal but...the jury is still out on the glass for me. I've heard many different opinions on the SH4's and EP5's but it seems that the truth is that they would be on par with the Athlon Helos lineup, which is to say, quite good for the price point. In the quest for the best glass for the money(all other things equal which is impossible to do, really; but if a scope doesn't have solid fundamentals it's an automatic reject for me) I feel that Athlon and/or Meopta is still leading the pack.

If your max magnification is under 20X you can get away with decent glass but above that is where IQ starts becoming much more of a factor.

I'm in the market for a scope of at least 24X that has great IQ all the way to max magnification. I've heard several people say that the IQ of the EP5 5-25 is great as long as you don't go over 20X. To me, that's a deal breaker!

I'm currently running a Meopta Optika6 3-18x50 ffp and I feel the IQ is still quite good at 18X.

The scopes currently on my list are the Athlon Midas TAC 6-24, Midas BTR 4.5-27, and Ares BTR 4.5-27.....and now this EPL4 from Arken. I can't wait to hear some objective feedback on how the IQ stacks up at 24X.

Price-wise the EPL4 is the least expensive of the bunch but not by a lot(excepting the Ares BTR, which even on sale is around $700)...especially if you can find these others secondhand. The only SFP of the bunch is the Midas BTR which I see for sale quite often for 450$ brand new. That's probably what I'm leaning towards at the moment...I'd appreciate any input on users of this scope on how the glass quality is at 27X.
 
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I decided to try an Arken SH4 6-24X50 GEN2 34mm tube, it'll be here on Sat, I'll be comparing it agains a bunch of Nexus's and UTG's. This thing will either be the best thing in the world or a total POS. I will say that one of my Nexus's I can barely move the turrets, they are that stiff, it needs to go in and will as soon as I get the Arken.
 
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Anxiously waiting to hear how these scopes stack up against it's rival...the Midas TAC. The Midas TAC is a step up in price so if these EPL4's can come close...that'll be something! Also, the Arken's have illumination and are lighter and shorter.

If the 6-24 EPL4 had a christmas tree reticle I'd be all over it...

I did notice via photos that the parallax knob does have 10,15, 20, 25, and 30 yard marks which is a nice touch! That is...if they line up:/
 
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bigHUN said:
This Arken glass clarity ... is it a wooow? or it is just good enough for the money?
Click to expand...
I have one SH4 4-16x so my sample size is tiny...but I consider myself a scope snob. The Arken has wooow glass compared to almost everything under the ~$1200 range today. Its not as good as my Bushnell Elite or friends S&B, but not far off. The turrets are the real value. Some of the best I have used at any price. It is very heavy even on a PB, but thats the nature of a solid built 34mm scope. I cant comment on the new 30mm versions obviously.
 
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peaceful_ruler said:
Anxiously waiting to hear how these scopes stack up against it's rival...the Midas TAC. The Midas TAC is a step up in price so if these EPL4's can come close...that'll be something! Also, the Arken's have illumination and are lighter and shorter.

If the 6-24 EPL4 had a christmas tree reticle I'd be all over it...

I did notice via photos that the parallax knob does have 10,15, 20, 25, and 30 yard marks which is a nice touch! That is...if they line up:/
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The Arken illumination is nothing to get excited about. Yes it lights, to me blurry.
I have 4 of them — illumination quality all the same.
 
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peaceful_ruler said:
This scope for 400$ is quite the deal but...the jury is still out on the glass for me. I've heard many different opinions on the SH4's and EP5's but it seems that the truth is that they would be on par with the Athlon Helos lineup, which is to say, quite good for the price point. In the quest for the best glass for the money(all other things equal which is impossible to do, really; but if a scope doesn't have solid fundamentals it's an automatic reject for me) I feel that Athlon and/or Meopta is still leading the pack.

The scopes currently on my list are the Athlon Midas TAC 6-24, Midas BTR 4.5-27, and Ares BTR 4.5-27.....and now this EPL4 from Arken. I can't wait to hear some objective feedback on how the IQ stacks up at 24X.
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I have 3 SH4s and one Athlon Helos BTR GenII 6-24X56 along with two Midas-Tac 6-24X50 scopes. I would be hard presssed to tell the difference between the optics on the Arkens and the Helos. They are both quite good. The Midas is a bit better, though, but enough to make a big difference? I doubt it. The only advantage that the Helos has over the Arken is that it focuses down to 10 yards and the entire reticle is illuminated. The Midas is not illuminated. All good choices, IMO.
 
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