There are more and more good quality scopes being produced today, but the manufacturers seem to shy away from compact scopes. Most are too long and too heavy and are designed to produce large magnification and all kinds of fancy features. There are a few available, but all into the cheap gun show category with bad optics and wire reticles. My criteria is that a compact scope must be less than 11 inches long, weigh less than 20 oz., and have up to 16X magnification That leaves out a lot of decent scopes that approach that maximum, so please don’t ask about them. There are others that may qualify; some fall into the cheap category and I wanted to stick to those that are good quality.
As promised in another post, I did a little review of three compact scopes that I recently purchased: Veyron 4-16 SFP, GPO 4-16 FFP, and Optisan 4-16 SFP. I personally prefer SFP scopes rather than FFP, and GPO does not offer one in that line. All are available in FFP version at a higher price. I needed a compact scope for a couple of springers so that it would be easier to load them. My TX200 was difficult to load because the scope that I had covered the loading port and I couldn’t move it back any further. This also applies to HW97K and FWB 300s as well. A lot of you folks bought the Vector Optics Veyron Ultra Short scopes so that’s the first one I bought. Since then, the GPO (German Precision Optics) line was introduced so I bought a Centuri Compact. Then someone said “what about Optisan” and yes, they make a nice compact line so I bought one from my local dealer Trenier Airguns. My intention was to compare all three side-by-side to see which one is best suited to my likings. I didn’t beat the daylights out of them like Joe Cyclops, but I think I can honestly say that I like all three. My comments are as follows:
I set up an eye chart behind my house at 25 yards to see how well each one focused. All three focused sharply as far as my old eyes could see. The optics were bright and there was no darkening at maximum magnification. The weather was bright and sunny.
As promised in another post, I did a little review of three compact scopes that I recently purchased: Veyron 4-16 SFP, GPO 4-16 FFP, and Optisan 4-16 SFP. I personally prefer SFP scopes rather than FFP, and GPO does not offer one in that line. All are available in FFP version at a higher price. I needed a compact scope for a couple of springers so that it would be easier to load them. My TX200 was difficult to load because the scope that I had covered the loading port and I couldn’t move it back any further. This also applies to HW97K and FWB 300s as well. A lot of you folks bought the Vector Optics Veyron Ultra Short scopes so that’s the first one I bought. Since then, the GPO (German Precision Optics) line was introduced so I bought a Centuri Compact. Then someone said “what about Optisan” and yes, they make a nice compact line so I bought one from my local dealer Trenier Airguns. My intention was to compare all three side-by-side to see which one is best suited to my likings. I didn’t beat the daylights out of them like Joe Cyclops, but I think I can honestly say that I like all three. My comments are as follows:
I set up an eye chart behind my house at 25 yards to see how well each one focused. All three focused sharply as far as my old eyes could see. The optics were bright and there was no darkening at maximum magnification. The weather was bright and sunny.
- Veyron 4-16X44. Seems well made and nearly as good as the others. It is supplied with 30mm Picatinny rings and a sunshade. All controls worked well. I liked the reticle, but it was a tad too fine for me and it was difficult to get it into sharp focus by adjusting the ocular. Turrets are the locking type and the click adjustment decent although not mushy.
- GPO Centuri Compact 4-16X44-This was the most expensive of the three, but I saved $200 because they offer a veterans discount, otherwise I probably would not have bought it for the MSRP. The controls on this one were the best as far as operational movement is concerned. The magnification ring came with a lever to help adjust it, but it can be removed. Turrets operated very crisply. The reticle had the perfect thickness, but did not have the “christmas tree” windage marks. It was illuminated and unlike most, the brightness is infinitely variable from min to max. As expected, this one had the best build quality, but not by much.
- Optisan CP-4-16X40-This one is the most compact because the windage/elevation adjustment rings were capped. Adjustment was on the mushy side, but it’s liveable. Of the three, I liked the reticle the most. It is not illuminated, but it is the right thickness and it’s image is sharp. Build quality is very good.
| Vector Veyron 4-16X44 | GPO Centuri Compact 4-16X44 | Optisan CP 4-16X40 | |
| Focal Plane | SFP (FFP) | FFP | SFP (FFP) |
| Length | 10.5 | 9.9 | 10.5 |
| Weight | 19.6 | 20 | 18.69 |
| Parallax (min) | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Tube Diameter | 30 | 30 | 30 |
| Illuminated reticle | Y | Y | N |
| Turrets | Exposed locking | Exposed locking | Capped |
| Eye Relief | 3.5 | 3.75 | 3.5 |
| Springer rated | Y | Y | Y |
| MSRP | $229 ($299) | $629 | $349 ($449) |
