recommendations for lightweight LPVO scope for less than $500
- Thread starter Steyr
- Start date
There's Swampfox, with decent reviews in the powder burner world. Not too many airgunner's seem to know of them. The Swampfox Arrowhead 1-10×24 with the guerrilla dot mil reticle looks good for both windage and holdover.
www.swampfoxoptics.com
Arrowhead LPVO Series
The Swampfox Arrowhead LPVO series meets or exceeds every requirement for serious law enforcement and self-defense applications. Locking turrets require no tools to prevent unintentional adjustments. Arrowhead’s state-of-the-art optical design creates a brighter sight picture, a wider field of...
www.swampfoxoptics.com Upvote 0
Every LPVO in that price range that I have looked at doesn't have any parallax adjustment. For me that is an absolute requirement on an airgun scope. They are usually set at a fixed 100 to 150 yard parallax focus which for me makes them worthless on the higher power settings at the distances I shoot my airguns. Huge amount of movement between the reticle and the target when not perfectly centered on the scope, no way to estimate range - plus a blurry image.
A list of LPVO scopes that have parallax adjustment on them down to at least 15 yards would be a handy reference.
The only 1-10x and 1-8x super compact LPVO scopes I am aware of with parallax adjustment and 10 yard focusing are the March Shorty models but I haven't really looked at anything other than March, Sightron, Arken and Athlon. The 1-8x March shorty is being discontinued so you might see some bargains out there for a new one but it won't be anywhere near the requested price point.
A list of LPVO scopes that have parallax adjustment on them down to at least 15 yards would be a handy reference.
The only 1-10x and 1-8x super compact LPVO scopes I am aware of with parallax adjustment and 10 yard focusing are the March Shorty models but I haven't really looked at anything other than March, Sightron, Arken and Athlon. The 1-8x March shorty is being discontinued so you might see some bargains out there for a new one but it won't be anywhere near the requested price point.
Last edited:
Upvote 0
The only current model LPVO with side focus and priced below $500 that I can think of is the Athlon Helos BTR 1-4.5x24 but it is not lightweight at all. I believe well over 22 ounces.
There is also the discontinued Styrka in both illuminated and non-illuminated models. I haven't checked in a while but there was still some stock floating around. I picked up two of these. Turrets are capped and reticle is a basic duplex so not really a great airgun scope. I would not personally rely on dialing the turrets in the field.
As far as your list.
March, Athlon and White Oak Armament all make 1.4.5x24 scopes with listed 10 yard minimum side focus. All are made for Service Rifle Competition.
March also makes a 1-8x24 FFP and two, 1-10x24 LPVOs with side focus. The 1-10 comes in both SFP and dual reticle versions.
Atibal has SFP and FFP versions of their 1-12x32 scope.
The above mentioned Styrka.
Delta Stryker has an FFP 1-10x28 coming out shortly.
Upvote 0
Thanks for the response Scouty. Several scope brands I had never heard of before. There are so many brands now it is a bit bewildering.
I didn't know that the Athlon Helos BTR focused to 10 yards as I never looked at the specs since I had no interest in an LPVO with less than at least 10x.
I intentionally didn't list the March SFP non Shorty 1-10x or 1-8x FFP NON shorty as they were too big for me to think of them as an LPVO but I did know that everything March makes will focus to 10 yards with the exception of the Genesis models which stop at 20 Meter.
The most interesting compact scope I have actually looked through is the new 1.5-15x March dual focal plane model. It could cover pretty much everything from point blank to at least 600 yards for me, and 1000+ yards with a BulzEyePro magnifier on it for the equivalent of a 21x max power. The 1.5-15x is just over 24 ounces and only 10.6" long. Not an LPVO in my book, but I would prefer to have that on pretty much any gun vs a 1-8x or a 1-10x LPVO. Only about 6 ounces heavier than the March 1-10x SFP and less than 1/4" longer.
Upvote 0
I agree that the new DFP 1.5-14X42 is an interesting scope. I read there was a reticle issue with the initial releases & therefore not a lot of real world reviews yet.
I had the SFP March 1-10x24 Compact & both the DOF & eyebox at 10x were too unforgiving for me. Granted I have some vestibular issues that exaggerate this but I'm cautious about 10x erector scopes for those reasons.
Upvote 0