Ed glass clarity significance

[Kragman1]

Guys, this is going to sound ridiculous because I don't believe in bad glass/cheap scopes. My old eyes don't do well with that stuff either. But the comment about glass quality skyrocketing lately rings very true with me!
Last weekend I bought a cheap Simmons ProTarget 3-9x40 scope from WalMart. Why? Shockingly clear, bright glass, and not just "for the price". 30mm tube, mil dot reticle and 0.1 mil adjustments. Lifetime warranty. Missing only AO to be a springer scope, and since it has a deep focus range, I can see clearly around 5 or 6 yards when it's set to 3X. 25 yards at 9X seems fine too.
It is NOT in the same optics quality range as other box store junk. At least mine isn't. Normal price is around $50, for comparison. Yep, made in China.

Just thought I'd share.

 

[rangur1]

Guys, this is going to sound ridiculous because I don't believe in bad glass/cheap scopes. My old eyes don't do well with that stuff either. But the comment about glass quality skyrocketing lately rings very true with me!
Last weekend I bought a cheap Simmons ProTarget 3-9x40 scope from WalMart. Why? Shockingly clear, bright glass, and not just "for the price". 30mm tube, mil dot reticle and 0.1 mil adjustments. Lifetime warranty. Missing only AO to be a springer scope, and since it has a deep focus range, I can see clearly around 5 or 6 yards when it's set to 3X. 25 yards at 9X seems fine too.
It is NOT in the same optics quality range as other box store junk. At least mine isn't. Normal price is around $50, for comparison. Yep, made in China.

Just thought I'd share.

I love your enthusiasm! Yes, you can luck into a real nice budget scope, and yes again, maybe the industry has upped their game. Fair enough. Now, as for me, I’ve been corrupted with tier 1 glass and there’s really no going back for me. By no means should you trash your treasure for “status points “ . If that economic scope delivers, enjoy the hell out of it! Keep shooting straight brother!

 

[smandl77]

A Australian guy that posts here sometimes spent $9600 for a S&B 10-60 or 5-45, can't remember exactly. It's considered top tier but it broke so he had to send it back.

I spent half that on a March Genesis and it's also considered top tier.

Up above $2500 you are paying for small diminishing returns. Better in some ways but can be very expensive for those nuances.

Nowadays you can buy a Athlon Helos G2 and it'll be pretty nice in all ways considering how inexpensive it is. I have three of them and have settled on them as good enough for most of my needs.

Wow - I hope that was AUD but even then $6k (USD) is a lot of money

 

[rangur1]

Wow - I hope that was AUD but even then $6k (USD) is a lot of money

Yes! That’s exactly what I meant with fluctuations in product quality. Even at that level. But in general, a 2-300 dollar scope struggles against a 6-800 scope vs a $1400 ballpark scope. If the difference wasn’t there, they would not sell. Now this doesn’t mean you can’t work some havoc with a budget scope, question is, how good are the eyes? Have at it friends!

 

[Duckfish]

I like to set up the powerful ones as prescribed by the Crosman “A Team” international winning field target team

 

[steve123]

Guys, this is going to sound ridiculous because I don't believe in bad glass/cheap scopes. My old eyes don't do well with that stuff either. But the comment about glass quality skyrocketing lately rings very true with me!
Last weekend I bought a cheap Simmons ProTarget 3-9x40 scope from WalMart. Why? Shockingly clear, bright glass, and not just "for the price". 30mm tube, mil dot reticle and 0.1 mil adjustments. Lifetime warranty. Missing only AO to be a springer scope, and since it has a deep focus range, I can see clearly around 5 or 6 yards when it's set to 3X. 25 yards at 9X seems fine too.
It is NOT in the same optics quality range as other box store junk. At least mine isn't. Normal price is around $50, for comparison. Yep, made in China.

Just thought I'd share.

Half the reason is it's only 9x at the top magnification, also partly because it's a SFP scope with fewer lenses. But even so I've run across a few cheaper scopes that seem to have decent clarity. If it works for someones application that's what matters most so....

I had a FFP March HM 5-42 one time that was fantastic at lower power, very nice at mid power, then getting kinda of cruddy above 38x, but to me at 42x was substantially worse being blurry and dim. I bought the scope to spend most of the time above 30x so it was a big fail.

 

[Smok3y]

We often get caught up in “good glass” talks, but even good glass can not agree with your eyes. I don’t put a lot of stock in ED or HD specifications, because they can mean a lot of different things. That being said, when you take something like a Sightron SV and compare it to the SVED, you can see the difference. You might could take a $800 scope that says HD and compare it to another $800 without HD and not see the difference.

I have tried the range of glass and I would not purchase some expensive ones again (diminishing returns Steve spoke of), but would easily purchase others. There is a reason that even scope snobs don’t always agree, as some prefer different things. I loved my Kahles 10-50, but sold it to another guy who didn’t like it at all. I would have said it was my favorite scope, and I have had more expensive scopes. Take for example, NightForce Comp, which historically known for being “bright” or more blue, so some people loved that. I personally preferred the dimmer look of the Kahles, because that is the optical formula that my eyes prefer.

I always tell people not to write off any scope until you have looked through it. Your eyes might like it more than others. We aren’t all looking for the same thing either, like resolution vs contrast, but I’ll leave that to the scientific guys to get into.

Point is, the good glass we speak of means different things even in the top tiers, not just across tiers.