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View Poll Results: Which is better for low light?
Zeiss Terra Rifle Scope 3-9x 42mm Plex Reticle Matte ($399) 25 36.76%
Nikon MONARCH 3 Rifle Scope 2.5-10x 42mm ($399) 13 19.12%
Leupold VX-3 Rifle Scope 3.5-10x 40mm Duplex Reticle Matte ($479) 30 44.12%
Voters: 68. You may not vote on this poll

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Old November 3, 2013, 08:16 AM   #51
taylorce1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Boomer58cal
Cabelas says their Euro riflescopes have the highest light transmission in the industry. 99.8% to be exact. Definitely brighter than my monarch 3 @ 95%. Too bad I've already returned Cabela's brand scopes for manufacturer defects. There scopes have been the only disappointing products I've bought from Cabelas. I must say though, their customer service was excellent and their warranty was no questions asked. Link ---> http://www.cabelas.com/browse.cmd?categoryId=153172980

If they could get there unnamed Chinese manufacturer to up its quality control standards they would have a great product.

Boomer
Until an independent laboratory does a light transmission test on scopes I'd say the claimed performance of any scopes light transmission is BS at best. If no one else is testing their scopes independently then they can claim anything they want on paper. Burris used to and may still make claims of 95+% light transmission. It is all just marketing by the manufacturer to sell scopes.

The OP was asking about hunting in low light conditions, and I think all three of his original choices will serve him well in the 1/2 hour before sunrise and 1/2 hour after sunset that most states have for legal hunting hours. Now if he is wanting to hunt at night for vermin and such all the European style large objective and tube scopes are very expensive, and for the same price a guy to invest in some decent night vision scope for that kind of hunting.
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Old November 3, 2013, 12:01 PM   #52
Boomer58cal
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Agreed

Boomer
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Old November 4, 2013, 07:02 PM   #53
reynolds357
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Boomer, those particular Cabellas scopes are Meopta's. Did you return one of these generation scopes made by Meopta or some of the earlier scopes Cabellas speced out?
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Old November 5, 2013, 03:06 PM   #54
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There's a viscious rumor going around that all of the mentioned scopes all use Jap glass, so the only factors to decide upon are mechanical. As to which is better mechanically, I can only answer as to the Leupold and Nikon, and I can't tell any difference between, Nikon glass, Leupold glass, and Vortex glass.

I tend to evaluate scopes by features and warranty. By those criterion, I have chosen Vortex PST for it's features, Zero stop, FFP, and mil-rad reticles and knobs.
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Old November 6, 2013, 08:22 PM   #55
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Boomer, those particular Cabellas scopes are Meopta's. Did you return one of these generation scopes made by Meopta or some of the earlier scopes Cabellas speced out?
At the time I spoke to Cabelas all they would tell me was that they're scopes were made by manufacturer in China. They would not give me the specific manufacturer's name.

Those scopes I returned to Cabelas were due to mechanical failures. The crosshairs would not adjust.

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Old November 6, 2013, 09:12 PM   #56
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The ones in the link are Meoptas. Definitely not made in China.
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Old November 24, 2013, 08:31 PM   #57
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Well, I "pulled the trigger" on a Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10x44, we'll see how it goes!

Took my daughter hunting today, she was very aggravated that she could not see the 7 deer at 135 yards today.
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Old November 25, 2013, 08:56 PM   #58
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Should have got the Nikon

Seriously though... Why couldn't she see the deer?

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Old November 26, 2013, 01:21 PM   #59
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Quote:
Should have got the Nikon

Seriously though... Why couldn't she see the deer?

Boomer
Yeah

Hunting in on of my Brother In Laws stands and he has it facing west. The sun goes behind the trees, then down and it gets hazy/dark against the tree-line. You can see fine in the field or if you look up at the sky, but put it against the tree-line and it's over. All of those deer were at the tree-line, I could barely see them through the scope, she couldn't at all. We'll see what this Zeiss is made of.
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Old November 27, 2013, 12:53 AM   #60
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Zeiss, Nikon, Leupold? Low light scope.

You'll be pleasantly surprised. I hunt over a tree shrouded bottom and can't see into it on my own 15 min after sunset. I end up glassing it with the conquest for the last 15 min of the day. My old VXII couldn't do this for me even though it was a great scope otherwise.
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Old November 27, 2013, 04:53 AM   #61
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My mate and I tested my Nikon Monarch 4-16x42 against his Viper PST 4-16x50 this weekend gone by.
The Nikon was ever so slightly better in extremely low light, even though it has a smaller objectives lens and a 25mm tube instead of 30mm.

I'd say Nikon isn't too bad.
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Old November 29, 2013, 09:59 AM   #62
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Schmidt and Bender uses glass made by the company that manufactures the glass for spy satellites...
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Old November 29, 2013, 11:19 AM   #63
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If I could afford a spy satellite, I might could afford a Schmidt and Bender.
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Old November 29, 2013, 12:43 PM   #64
Boomer58cal
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Schmidt and Bender uses glass made by the company that manufactures the glass for spy satellites...
Now if they just used the glass from those spy satellites we'd be in business.

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Old November 29, 2013, 05:23 PM   #65
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I'll bet it is close. My S&B M/P 5-25X56 was over $3k.
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Old November 29, 2013, 06:00 PM   #66
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A spy satellite cost roughly 3 billion dollars and can use over 25 lenses of varying wave lengths to capture a single image. Each lens cost several million dollars.

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Old November 29, 2013, 07:37 PM   #67
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My choice is Leupold, but it has nothing to do with the low-light performance as I cannot see the difference due to my eyes. I choose Leupold for two reasons:

1) Made/assembled in USA.
2) The service and warranty. Leupold stands behind their products. I know I pay the premium for it, but the peace of mind is worth it. I broke a M8 4X scope once by dropping the rifle on which it was mounted, and a phone call started the repair process. No cost to me for a scope I broke and told the customer service rep I broke.
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Old November 30, 2013, 09:47 AM   #68
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I want to see the mount to put that on a thuddy ought six!
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Old December 2, 2013, 02:32 PM   #69
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Funny, I was told that S&B, Swarovski, Meopta, Minox and Ziess all used glass made by Shott. The higher ends used a bit better grading than Meopta and Minox. This person who is a retailer of all those brands, attends SHOT and all the industry conferences also told me that Ziess and Shott were basically one in the same company.

This person also told me that there are three Manufacturers of optical type glass used in sport optics, Shott, Bausch & Lomb and the Japanese company (just can't remember the name). Most all Japanese and American names buy the Japanese glass. The difference comes in some of the coatings applied.
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Old December 2, 2013, 04:37 PM   #70
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Lots of companies work together behind the scenes.
Minolta used to make glass, both for their own use & for sale to other optical companies, but with the changes I have no idea who is doing it now. Nikon had an optical glass division that made & sold Glass as well.
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Old December 2, 2013, 09:21 PM   #71
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SaltyDog, I think it would be more accurate to say there are three companies providing the glass for the quality sport optics. There are glass manufacturers in China, Taiwan, and possibly the Phillipines. Not sure about the latter.
Some of the best glass in the world comes from LOMO in Russia, but not sure very much of it makes it to the U.S.A.
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