Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics why are Burris scopes cheaper?

So I'm thinking about the Burris Six X in 2-12x40mm. Street price of the non-ballistic illuminated reticle is $630. A Swarovski z6 set up nearly identically is 3 times that amount.

Or, consider the Fast Fire II. Street price is $200 or less, sometimes as little as $170, and that includes the mount. A Trijicon Docter is 3 times that amount.

I mean, seriously... docter:
http://www.policeordnance.com/2004/Docter/docter_docter_sightplus.jpg

FastFire:
http://www.impactguns.com/store/media/burris/burris_Fastfire.jpg

Or how about the P.E.P.R. mount. Street price at calssportingarmory.com is only $55. If you got a comparable Larue that does the exact same thing, it costs nearly 4 times that amount, and still does not have the mount for a red dot.

I don't get it. If it was knockoffs made in 3rd world countries it would be different. But, the Six X is made in America, all lenses are fully multi-coated with premium index-matched coatings, the glass itself is supposed to be the best money can buy, the tube is apparently really tough plus 30mm, the image is supposed to be really clear for the entire zoom range which is rare, the range is a full 6x instead of the typical 3-4x, it's got an illuminated reticle, and a "forever" warranty like all their other scopes. This ought to be a really expensive scope, no?

On this one and most any others except for the foreign made entry models, you have to spend 2-4 times as much to get a comparable product, yet there's hardly anything bad at all being said about these products. That's what I don't get.

American wages are significantly lower than wages in Germany and Austria, plus an import tax is levied on foreign optics.

+1 and the glass while very good is probably not the quality of optical glass coming out of Austria,Germany.

I take that back about the p.e.p.r., the quick release version is $87 on that site I mentioned. So, the larue is "only" like 2.5 times as much.

I am fairly certain the P.E.P.R. is made in China.

You might find this an interesting read:
http://www.chuckhawks.com/overview_burris_optics.htm

The Docter sight has 2 glass lenses in it the Burris has one plastic lense. There is no comparison in quality betwixt the 2.

hangunnr

handgunnr are you basing that on some inside knowledge or perception?

handgunnr....I am also curious as to where you got that info.

Burris apparently didn't get the memo on that one, might want to call them.

http://www.burrisoptics.com/pdf/fastfire%20product%20guide.pdf

"FastFire�s multicoating is sandwiched between TWO highly polished, optical quality GLASS lenses for protection from scratches and abrasion
and a bright, clear sight picture."


This kind of shows what I'm talking about. Any critiques of the company's products is usually based on BS.

I stand corrected, sorry for the mis info!

Not a Burris basher in any way. They happen to be my scope of choice for my handguns.

hangunnr

Scopes are a lot like jewelry and art, their valuation depends a lot upon perception and has very little to do with what they cost to manufacture. I'm sure the swarovski costs more to build than the burris because it's undoubtedly assembled from higher quality components. However, I doubt it costs 3x the money of the burris to build and I'm pretty sure that neither of them cost their respective manufacturers more than $100 a copy to make. Is the swarovski "worth" $1800? Only the person buying it can say if it is or not, for sure there's a huge amount of mark up due to the swarovski name and the fact that it's competitors like Schmidt Bender and Zeiss roughly match their price with comparable products. A burris, while a decent scope, isn't in the same league as swarovski and a look through one will quickly confirm that. Burris isn't pricing their scope at $1800 because they'd never sell any at that price. Swarovski can sell them at that price and that's the real reason they cost what they do, it has nothing really to do with it costs to manufacture. Both these manufacturers price them where they can move them and realize the most profit. If scopes were priced based upon their true costs then even the most expensive ones would probably cost less than $200. It's one of the reasons I hardly ever buy scopes at retail prices, I wait until there's a close-out or buy a demo model that's like new, there's so much mark up in scopes that it's ridiculous. It's a lot like your wife's designer clothes, a certain name brand dress will sell for $400 but then two months later it's on the closeout rack for $19.95. The reason they can knock them down that much for closeout is because their wholesale price was dirt cheap to begin with, the markup was just ridiculous.

Also, I have to disagree with Mule Deer on one point. The price of labor in Germany and Austria isn't really that significantly different than the U.S. for comparably skilled workers. It is some higher over there due to the structure of their welfare states and all that entails vs. the U.S. system, but it's not enough difference that it'd really make much of a difference in the pricing of a scope. Now if Burris is using high school dropouts to assemble their scopes vs. skilled technicians at swarovski then yes, there is going to be a significant labor price difference. If they both use equivalent workers then the wages of the germans/austrians are only going to be a little bit higher than in the U.S. I spend quite a bit of time in Germany with my job and I can assure you that the standard of living for the average middle class German is not higher than the average middle class American.

Burris is cheaper because they should be...

High end glass is the result of better manufacturing to start, but then the best grades go to better makers... Lower grades go to lower grade manufacturers and all are priced accordingly.

Several people here have posted about visits to the Burris warranty shop and finding all ESL workers. I have been told the same by a couple folks that visited also, so I take it as more than guessing.

Burris use of "lightweight" is also a joke... One of their biggest clubs is the old Compact series of low power variables.

Some of the price difference is not just for the glass but for the proprietary coatings. The coatings can make quite a difference even with the same glass. I think that some of the price difference is also a certain degree of "snob appeal."

I suspect a significant portion of the difference is marketing. When a company sets a high price (pricing strategy), part of that is to convince the buying public of a higher quality product. It may actually be a better product, but not as much as the price would indicate.

Most of what you are buying in terms of coatings is to have a coat of magnesium fluoride on every lens surface, and the nicer Burris scopes have this, just like the high end Leupold and Swarovski. Yeah there's extra coatings, but it's mostly just proprietary weatherproofing, and Burris has that as well.

Years ago I bought a couple of Burris scopes and didn't care for the way they performed in the field. They were sold and I moved on to bigger and better things.

Recently I needed a scope for an AR-15 "plinking" rifle. It's just something fun to shoot while the barrels on my other rifles cool down. I didn't want to put much money in the optics and ran across a sale at SWFA. They were closing out the Burris 2-7 FFII Tactical scopes for $159. I figured it was worth a try at that price so I odered one. So far I've been extremely impressed with this scope. The eye box is much bigger than the old Burris FFII's and the image quality rivals my Leupold MK4! The power knob is a little stiff and the reticle isn't as nice but the optics are sharp and low light performace is acceptable.

If I would have paid full price for this gem I wouild still be happy with it.

Terry

I think crow hunter nailed it. I have bought probably 50 or more Swarovski scopes in the last 10 years. I 100% agree that they aren't really "worth" the premium I pay for them, but I really don't care because I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford them, they hold their value and I can always get out of them what I paid for them. Plus, I can tell a meaningul enough difference between them and the next tier down. I've never paid retail for one so believe they are a fair bang for the buck, all things considered. If I made significantly less money, I'd probably be buying the Burris scopes that you mention, but I've looked through them and to my eyes, they aren't as good. If they are for your eyes, then by all means, snag them up!