Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics High end rifle scope clarity......

Miles-

I've seen pics of S&B reticles like that and wish they still offered them. The scope you have sounds like about as perfect a hunting scope as I could imagine for how/where I've hunted. Add a Flashdot and I can' imagine it not being very good for anything, anywhere, anytime...

Just purchased a March 10x60x52. I have all of the high end scopes "Zeiss, S&B and Swarovski" and by far the March is the best. I have never looked through a scope as clear as the March. They are very $ but well worth it if you want one of the best scopes money can buy

I have Leupold, Zeiss Conquest, Swarovski, Kahles and S&B. The S&B is on a 375 H&H, so I don't use it that much, but my "go to" scopes for most everything else is Kahles in various configurations.

donsm70

I don't know about anywhere else, but for deer hunting in Minnesota those scopes are all about as good as it gets. I am not a fan of illuminated reticles, and especially not on scopes with this quality glass. The scopes work well for night hunting without it and if you used it set on anything other than just barely visible at night it would be too much light inside the scope and you'd lose the target.

Thanks for all the input fellas. After browsing several sites it seems the weight is the kicker. A good many of the higher end scopes end in the 12x range, but I personally prefer more. It seems nearly all are in the 20-27oz range as well and I'm not really interested in that much weight.

What I've found thus far that would fall into the weight class and mag range are:

Leica 3.5-14x42 at 18.1oz
Swaro Z5 3.5-18x44 at 15.9oz

The Minox Z5 3-15x42 is only 14.4oz, but if it's no better than a Conquest I'll strike it from the list.

I also like the weight of the Zeiss Victory Diavari 3-12x56 at 17.8oz, though it only goes to 12x and I'm not sure I'd want a 56mm on a lighter hunting rifle. I tend to prefer the 44mm range.


RM, I should have a 6500 any day now and plan to mount it on a heavy 700 in 300WM. We'll see how that pans out for a lower priced optic.

Stoney, I took a look at the Z6 and they too were a bit on the heavy side. Does the Z5 even compare?

How would the Z5 stand against the Leica or the Diavari?

Thanks all,

loder

Andrew,

I just looked at the March site. Never even heard of them until now. I see they list a Hunting line and have a 2.5-25x42. It comes in at 21.5oz. I wouldn't mind that on a heavy rig.

I've haven't owned a trully high end scope yet, like a Diavari, Schmidt etc. Owned some higher end stuff like Kahles and Docter though. Docter doesn't get much press, but I have three of the 3-9x40s, and have been really impressed with them. They are heavy too, like 19oz. Heavy scopes don't scare me though, unless my only goal was a lightweight rig.

All Z6 run 30mm tubes & Z5 run 1". Same glass, but the Z6 seems a tad more clear to me. My 1.7-10x42 wieghs 16.6oz.

Recently played with a Z6 15x44.. Man was it nice! Few more 'Benjamins than a Z5 though.

my bladder holds more weight than what some people are concerned about in a scope.

I have the Z3 4-12x50 BT and the Z5 3.5-18x44 BT. The Z3 came with a nice duplex reticle, the Z5 with a fine target duplex, not good for hunting. I sent it back to Swaro with $125 for a #4 reticle. These 1" scopes are light and have great glass. To me 30mm scopes are bulky and heavy. I have a 6500 2.5-16x40 that I bought used on Ebay for $400 shipped. Its 30mm and heavy, but has good glass with a very positive parallax adjustment. It can be fitted with a Kenton elevation turret without modification. It's a lot of glass for the buck.

I don't have a big Euro scope to compare these to, having traded the ones I had. The 1" Swaro's should be pretty close to the 30mm ones. I think I remember a Swaro tech telling me that the Z6 had higher grade glass than the Z3 and Z5. To me the difference isn't worth the cost or the weight. To each his own.

IMHO.

DF

Ain't that the truth!

One of my hunting partners runs a Zeiss Diavari 3-12x56 on a Sako he purchased while stationed oversees. He's used that combination to take game all over the map and will probably be burried with it. When we've hunted together, to my eyes his scope had a marked advantage after dark where it would resolve an image and my LEU would not. During the legal hours we hunted between dawn to dusk, his would have an optical clarity along the lines of a good pair of binos and you could tell a difference. But there was never a single time during legal day hours that he could resolve a target to shoot whereas I could not. Both of us use binos for observation, so I've never seen a single advantage he's gained over me when hunting legal day hours. I'm of the opinion he has completely ruined the handling of his nice Sako with this heavy scope, but he swears by that particular Zeiss and is addicted to it like a crack addict to crack.

Not sure which rifle scope would be optically superior to this particular Zeiss, as I don't see one being too much better. But you would need to be one who willing to lug around a very large and very heavy scope if you chose this Diavari. His scope appears to be better than a half pound heavier than mine and that additional weight on top of the rifle makes a noticeable negative impact on handling. A heavier long range rig would better absorb the added weight.

Best

I've hunted with a 3-12x56 Diavari for the past 3 years and it is by far my favorite scope. I own several Swarovski's and Diavari's.

I have owned & still own some of the following brands of scopes in no particular order:

S&B
Zeiss Diavari FL
USO
NightForce
March
Swarovski

The best glass I have seen was on a Zeiss Diavari FL 4-16x50!!! The glass was absolutley exceptional - crystal clear, very sharp in detail & just flat out amazing!!!

My favorite scope are from S&B - awesome glass, built like a tank & tough as nails!!

Ok Jeff, finish your review...... 1st trip to the range the $2500.00 Davari reticle broke....correct?

You are correct Stoney, but the OP did not ask about durability of scopes, just asked about high end scope CLARITY!!!!

The Zeiss Diavari FL, even though it had problems outta the box, is still the best scope I have looked through clarity wise!!

My rankings for clarity from my above list:

1 = Zeiss Diavari FL

2 = Schmidt & Bender

3 = March

4 = Swarovski

5 = NightForce

6 = USO (glass sucked in my opinion!!)

I'm 6'2" and about 210 pounds, so in general terms a few ounces aren't a big deal. But there's no doubt that adding six or eight extra ounces a couple of inches above the center line of the rifle can negatively affect the way it handles for me. This of course depends on how the rifle handles in the first place.

Damn it..you are right Jeff!

Those Davari's may be broken out of the box, but Wow...they sure are clear!

My ratings are as follows

1. Zeiss Hensoldt
2. Zeiss Diavari
3. Swarovski
4. S&B
5. Trijicon

WildfollowedbynightforceleupoldetcAlaska ��2002-2011

Stoney,

Your damn skippy they're clear, durable.................???