Which scope, Vortex viper or hawke side winder ( 4x16) or other suggestions. Second focal plane, 500ish dollar range.
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Vortex or hawke ?
- Thread starter ghoststalker
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I've been way more impressed by my Hawke scopes than Vortex.
My 6.5-20 Sidewinder is probably my favorite SFP optic. Reticle is useful but not cluttered, turrets are intuitive, glass is extremely bright and clear. Hawke warranty and customer service is superb as well. The SFP Frontier 30's have even better glass and more reticle options for a little more moolah.
Vortex Vipers, Diamondback tactical, Venom, etc. have always been pretty underwhelming in the glass department IMO.
My 6.5-20 Sidewinder is probably my favorite SFP optic. Reticle is useful but not cluttered, turrets are intuitive, glass is extremely bright and clear. Hawke warranty and customer service is superb as well. The SFP Frontier 30's have even better glass and more reticle options for a little more moolah.
Vortex Vipers, Diamondback tactical, Venom, etc. have always been pretty underwhelming in the glass department IMO.
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My Hawke Sidewinder 6x24x56, SFP (older one) has served me incredibly well over the years. Bought it used for $325 & never regretted it. Great glass & "clean" simple reticle. Never owned a Vortex (yet).
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I looked at them after seeing this, had one in my cart. Parallax is at 30 yd. though, would like to focus down to 10 yards.
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I had a Hawke that fell apart right away. Windage immediately failed. Maybe I got a bad one but there are lots of similar reviews out there. Im sure Hawke would have fixed it buy Pyramid Air took care of me and I sent it back for credit on a Helix. I really wanted to like the Hawke, but I think the Vortex is going to be more reliable. That assumes you get a decent Vortex, since their lower scopes dont have very good image/turret quality imo. I would get something like a Vortex Viper PST Gen II, skip the HS version of the Viper. I have seen them on sale for ~$500 but they run closer to $600 normally and I think they are all FFP.
The Viper HST is available in SFP and made in Japan, although I have never used one myself. I can tell you first hand the PST Gen II is a good scope.
The Viper HST is available in SFP and made in Japan, although I have never used one myself. I can tell you first hand the PST Gen II is a good scope.
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It's really personal preference. But I have had a couple of Hawke scopes in the past, and now have Vortex optics mounted on every air rifle I own.
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