Element Nexus 5-20x50 FFP vs NightForce NX8 2.5-20x50 FFP

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2manyAirGunz

2manyAirGunz

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Jul 26, 2018
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Has any forum member had the pleasure of comparing these 2?

I have the NF NX8 in 2.5-20x50 FFP and the NX8 4-32x50 FFP. These are by far my favorites. 

I find them indispensable when shooting long-distance at the rifle range -- my old eyes and all.😉

The Element Nexus can be had for a bit less 💰. I'm considering purchasing an Element and would like to know what current owners think of them.

TIA.
 
I'd like to know as well.

Funny thing - on all the scopecam images through the Nexus on air hunters (youtube and Instagram) show terrible chromatic aberration compared with the Titan. I initially assumed it was just maybe that Roelf is using a worse scope camera through the Nexus vs Gerhard on the Titan and that was the source. But if you look at his latest 'how clear is this scope!?' post on Instagram looking at the moon through the Nexus and Helix, presumably with the same eagle vision and Firefly camera combo, even the Helix looks better for some reason. Very weird.

I'm on a notification list for either a Titan or a Nexus but making a decision on trying one of these or getting another Meopta optika6 gets hard when you see this stuff online from guys in whose best interests it is to make the Nexus look as good as possible. Hope it's just technical. 
Looking forward to some real world opinions and comparisons with other top LOW scopes like the Delta Stryker and NX8 etc.
 
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Though I can't personally compare the two different scopes, I do have the NX8 4-32×50 FFP on my .357 Slayer and love everything about it. It seems that you already know the Nightforce scopes perform very well, so why experiment with this new Element scope that may have questionable results for your eyes? Depending upon the gun and it''s capabilities that you are mounting it on, it feels like a downgrade in glass to me.
 
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Though I can't personally compare the two different scopes, I do have the NX8 4-32×50 FFP on my .357 Slayer and love everything about it. It seems that you already know the Nightforce scopes perform very well, so why experiment with this new Element scope that may have questionable results for your eyes? Depending upon the gun and it''s capabilities that you are mounting it on, it feels like a downgrade in glass to me.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey bud, stop trying to talk sense into me! 😉

My wife dubbed me 2manyAirGunz for good reason. And by Zeus, I intend to live up to that username. My better-half might want to add 2miniscopes to my sobriquet as well.😂
 
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@2manyAirGunz, don't feel that I am being critical of this new scope. We need unobjectionable people who can give it a fair shakedown and "see" if it is truly as tough, clear, and manufactured as well as it is marketed as being. So, if you can afford to put it in your arsenal without the wife putting you in the dog house, then I too would like to hear your experience with this new scope! It doesn't sound too be too bad of a scope really.

There is a trend of these new scope "manufacturer's" popping up in the past couple decades. Moreso lately. It breaks down like this: a "new" company is formed, that will put a new name on a new scope design that looks a little different from others', that has good marketing and pretty packaging, and says it delivers all the bells and whistles that you desire or that other's are lacking in, and that has a decent warranty in their top tier scope line. The thing is, the actual scope design is being made in the same facilities, on the same machines, with the same materials, and at the quality control standards, and by the same worker's as everyone else's scope. This "new scope company", just like those that have came before it, is simply contracting with an established scope manufacturer to make their design, and to their standards, usually in Japan, the Philippines, or China, depending on the company and or model, and or by the standards for which they want to be known for.

I keep this in mind with this particular new scope manufacturer though: There are a lot of scope model's out there that have failed in some way or another in their design. If our airgun community can pull together some of it's best hunting/marketing/shooting/sponsored/YouTube-famous/manufacturers/and like minded people to produce a scope that is truly the best of all worlds then I will applaud them, and support them as well. But just like all those scope manufacturer's out there that have came before this one, only time will tell the true story of usefulness, quality, and dependability.
 
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Scopes are somewhat of a sacred thing to me 😆 I wouldn't personally run anything but NF glass. There are higher-end optics that have somewhat clearer glass than the NX8 line, but the value of that is negligible when I factor in the extreme durability of the (battle-proven) NF scopes. Not saying that other scopes aren't durable or reliable, but I'm in the camp that desires long-term reliability over "lifetime" warranties that are only valid for the lifetime of the manufacturer. 

These 4 seem to cover all of my bases 👍

1586895655_18479515725e961b275f3263.79062365.jpeg

 
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mtnghost,

Perhaps you can shed some light about the NF NX8 scopes. I am looking very hard at these two scopes as sort of a cross over purpose, hunting / longer range shooting (air rifle)

I prefer my scopes to be 12-13" and consider 26-28 oz. To be max. These two fit the bill. Would I be better off with the 4-30x50 as both scopes weigh, for the most part, the same and being a bit longer with 8x zoom range provide better sight picture.

I can only afford one higher end tier scope and have been giving thought to NF, March, and perhaps the Element Nexus. Any thoughts you may share would be very welcome and appreciative.

Cheers
 
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Houli

mtnghost,

Perhaps you can shed some light about the NF NX8 scopes. I am looking very hard at these two scopes as sort of a cross over purpose, hunting / longer range shooting (air rifle)

I prefer my scopes to be 12-13" and consider 26-28 oz. To be max. These two fit the bill. Would I be better off with the 4-30x50 as both scopes weigh, for the most part, the same and being a bit longer with 8x zoom range provide better sight picture.

I can only afford one higher end tier scope and have been giving thought to NF, March, and perhaps the Element Nexus. Any thoughts you may share would be very welcome and appreciative.

Cheers



TL;DR - If I were in the position of only being able to run one high tier optic for hunting / LR, it would probably be the 4-32. It's versatile, relatively light and it comes fairly close to my 7-35 at long distance. It is not the same as the 7-35 though, and I do not like comparing them to each other. There are valid reasons why the ATACR is almost double the MSRP (I'm into mine for 4400 with the T3 reticle 👎).

That said, the MIL-C reticle is a little thin at low magnification - I'd try and find a MIL-XT version, unless you're an MOA shooter. The weight is manageable, running mine on light NF rings so I can run it on all my air and powder rigs, but if you can use a Unimount. I'd highly recommend the Scalarworks LEAP, since you get QD with them for 5oz. They offer them with elevation cant as well (20MOA) in various heights. Don't cheap out on rings if you can help it.

March - I liked the March 3-24 a lot, but the eyebox sucked pretty bad, parallax adjustment was weird, and I couldn't adapt to an MOA reticle. Great glass on the March aside from the double halos, but I replaced my March with the NX8 with no regrets. The NX8 reaches out much further and does much better at night. 

Weight - I miss the lighter March setup, but again the weight is tolerable with the NX8. The weight of the NX8 is the high watermark of what I will typically run on a hunting rifle. I would use the 7-35 to hunt under certain circumstances, but I use it more for testing / PRS than anything else .. and as a night time telescope to view planets, which it does QUITE well LOL

Element - I'm not going to say the weight is as heavy as the advertising (lol kidding), but they do not appeal to me. I couldn't see myself replacing my NX8s / ATACRs with them. None of them appear to compete head to head with the 4-32. IIRC, they have .5MIL hash marks, and I cannot do without .2MIL precision on higher variable power scopes.

Side note- there was a good thread on SnipersHide a while back that compared the 4-32 with the 2.5-20. The 2.5-20 SFP version suffers some optical anomalies that aren't found on the 4-32, and the NF dealers were saying that many of the guys that were after the SFP wound up swapping them out for the 4-32 FFPs since they performed substantially better.

Just my $0.02
 
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There must be some mix-up, the entire NX8 line is FFP. I can’t detect any issue with my 2.5-20, clear and bright as expected.
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Yep, I got my crossed with another thread on SFP converts looking at the NX8 lol. The 2.5-20 vs. 4-32 thing was around image quality with max on the 20 wasn't as good as the 32 on max. I never personally compared the two, but I did have one of each reserved in MIL to compare early on. The 3-24x52 March that I had was a true 8x erector like the 4-32, and after dealing with the problems above 20x with that guy, I wasn't optimistic about 32x, and figured that if it didn't work well - I'd still have the 20x to test and just return the other. The vendor told me that they agreed the 32x was better on max when compared side by side, so I took their word and passed on the 20x. 

Now I can say with 💯 % certainty that NF pulled off the compact design of the 4-32 with minimal compromises. Certainly better than March with the 3-24x52, I think they should have limited that to 20x instead of going to 24x, because I wound up backing mine off every time I had it up that high. 
 
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Mtngost,

Quick question,

Between the March 3-24x52 and NF NX8 4-32x50, do you feel that you can notice the 4 ounce difference between these scopes when mounted?

Cheers
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Yep. It is noticeable, but it's acceptable weight. Mind you I come from a world in mountaineering, where every ounce is heavily (no pun intended) scrutinized. Keep in mind the two are not really in the same league IMO. The 4-32 sits somewhere between the March and 7-35. The March 5-40 would be a closer competitor.
 
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I do not believe the Element Nexus is in the same league as the Nigt force NS8 and defiantly not in same ballpark as the ATACR quality of scope . I would say it is in the Arken scope quality , which is fine for most people , alot of new scope companies popping up which have optics made over seas , I have saw like 4 of them in past few months.If I was buying a mid or low priced scope a shot but if it is for my best scope , no I would not even look at them , I like My German Glass best , but their are many good optics out their . I just cant find a need for me to buy one now , I would not sell my Smidth Benders or my IOR or USO , as they are not an upgrade for me

LOU
 
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