Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Meopta, Leupold, Leica, oh my!

That Meopta looks very nice. I like that alot.

the posts as u can see r plenty thick. towards the middle they get thin but thats where the red dot helps. but ive only used the red dot once. its easy to center up the target well with this reticle

If any of you guys are like me, with post 50 yr old eyes, the reticle is at least as important as the glass quality. What I'll call the "euro manufacturers" i.e. Zeiss, Leica, Swaro, Meopta, S&B use reticles that are way too thin in the fine wire part of the reticle. I like the idea of an ill reticle, and am considering one myself, but what happens if the batteries are no good, don't work, go out, etc and you're stuck with the regular reticle that's too thin? In Fost's pics, the VX6 looks by far to be the best option to me.

I have seen the Meopta's in person, and the VX6. I'm 38, and I prefer the Meopta quite a bit over the Leupold. Could be in 10-12 years, I'll agree that it's too thin, but in the meantime, I personally think I'm leaning Meopta on this one.

The #4 is the best low light reticle out there. Those who say the middle part is too thin don't understand how it's designed to work. The thin part is for precise aiming during the day, as the light gets low you use the fat part of the reticle to bracket the target. You aren't going to be making 300 yd shots at night so it's still plenty precise for the distances you'll be shooting in low light or at night.

ye thats what i was sayin that even tho the middle portion is thin its still easy to center up the target even without the illumination. love the reticle

Thank you gentlemen.

This thread is going to cost me some money I would love the 6x42 they make with an illumination but the 3.5-10x44 would be great on a 260 Rem.

I just got back from Cabela's. Till I waited my turn at the gun counter and got outside, it was all but flat dark. There was a little light in the west.

I took the Meopta 1.5-6x42 Meostar and a VX6 2-12x42.

Resolution= Both good, Meopta noticeably better to my eye. Meopta at 6x resolved the detail Leupold needed 8-9x to display. 12x on the Leupold did not please me next to 6x on the Meopta.

Clarity= Meopta had a hint of edge blur at max power. Leupold had a "rolling ball" effect, placement of it in the FOV varied by power setting.

Brightness= Meopta pretty well ahead of Leupold. Add in the fabulous #4 reticle, and illumination, and the choice was pretty apparent...FOR ME....between the two scopes.

I want to do this again, however, and get a Swaro Z3 in the mix, and have a hint of natural light lingering in the area when I get down to brass tacks with the optics.

I wish there was a Leica nearby to eyeball likewise.

You gotta mount 'em up to understand what's going on.

Yes, for sure....I'd actually submit that until one has hunted with a scope meant for hunting, you still don't know for sure what you have.

That said, I can't buy one of each, mount and shoot and hunt with them, and then sell off, generally at a loss, keeping only the one I like best. So.... I make my decisions with the best info I can get, and that is what I'm developing here.

couldn't disagree more in the vx6 and I Have hunted with it and compared it outside a store

Notice that I said "to my eye" and that the choice "FOR ME" was apparent.

I'm happy you are pleased with your VX6. I'm sure it's a good scope. I wouldn't feel ill-equipped if one appeared on my rifle, but I stand by what I've seen and in forming MY OPINION that I PREFER a Meopta Meostar to a Leupold VX6.

That is not a knock on the VX6 in anyway.

As for what I saw..... I was outside. I was looking at trees, clouds, mountainsides, signs, cars, people. There was a mountain about 2 miles to the north. I could see the mountain and resolve gaps in tree branches on the crest of the mountain....with the Meopta. I could barely resolve the outline of the mountain with the Leupold.

I looked at a lighted store sign and compared the detail seen (this sign was about 3/4 of a mile distant). To get to see the same details/image, I had to set the Leupold to 8-9x to equal the maxed out Meopta at 6x.

I also saw a globing effect as well with the Leupold, and I saw some edge blurring in the Meopta at max magnification. I saw no globe effect on the Meopta and no edge blur in the Leupold.

Is your assertion that I didn't see these things? Or I saw something else and thought I saw such things?

I like the VX6, but I like the Meopta better.

I'm sorry if you disagree, as I said, these are my opinions.

I don't see any rolling ball and in comparing the vx6 to European optics that cost more than it, I couldn't see any real issues with differences in resolution.
What was the diopter set on each scope?

By the way I hunted till past legal hours and the Leupold would've killed any deer I aimed at and I put it on deer to check

Do you feel the actual crosshairs on the meopta are as thick as the vx6? The vx6 subtend a .4" on 12x at 100 yards, which is .8" on 6x. A fx3 6x42 heavy duplex subtends 1" at 100. Thus the Leupold has some heft to the crosshairs for lowlight.
I have the money to have whatever scope I choose to have. Somehow the Leupold seemed to do as well as anything else I've used

I just do not think a vx6 would cost you a shot. Longer bigger eyebox for quick sight picture as well

For me, Eye-humpin animals is best done through binos and a scope is a quick killing device

I didn't check the diopter position, but I did focus each so the crosshairs were sharp and clear.

Maybe it was a fluke? I don't know. I know I saw it, because I checked it several times. As I adjusted the magnification, the relative position in the FOV where I noticed the effect most predominantly would move, but it was there. I was surprised, very surprised, to see it, and so I looked at several power settings.

As for reticles...

This wasn't a good comparison. The Meopta sported a 4C, which in their optics is a SUPER heavy bar with a fairly fine crosshair. The Leupold had a standard duplex. The Meopta bars were probably twice the weight of the Leupold's, but again, it wasn't Leupold's #4 reticle, so I can't make a direct reticle comparison.

I can say that I LOVED the Meopta #4 reticle, however.

I don't spend long periods of time on animals with a scope, but I do need to be able to do a few things. 1- acquire my target, 2- verify a clear flight path for the bullet, 3- occasionally verify number of points (point restrictions in PA to determine a legal buck). I need the scope to give me useful sight pictures 30 min prior to sunrise and 30 min past sunset, regardless of weather/canopy/light conditions. I've seen deer on the ragged edges of legal time, and if I'm going to see a real big one, that's likely to be the time.

Again, I don't doubt that the VX6 is a good scope, and when you get to these levels of optics, things really move to opinion. Relative age and other physiological factors play into things, too. I've seen this with my father, who is soon to turn 70. I'm 38. I can perceive things in my optics that he cannot. So your perfect scope may not be my perfect scope, and vice versa.

I have to go see them side by side with more light, as it was DARK when I finally got someone to help me take the optics outside. I also want to compare to a Swaro Z3, as I own two of those, and I have hunted with both of them. That gives me a "known commodity" to compare against.

And any delusions I had of doing anything on this front anytime soon just evaporated...literally. My home's pressure tank sprung a leak and will need to be replaced. Been cleaning up wet carpet most of the day, ick. The replacement will eat most of any discretionary money for the time being, so that's that for now.

I'm glad you can afford any scope you want, and that you choose Leupold is a sound endorsement for them. I need to purchase optics fairly carefully, as I generally cannot afford anything I want, at least not without careful planning, and I can never afford to make a $1000 "oops", so I get very, very careful about what I purchase. Coming up on 30 years of chasing whitetails, and I have learned some lessons about optics as the years have gone by, so I have some firm opinions on what I believe will work best in my situation. From what I saw last night, of those two scopes, neither was bad, but to me, the Meopta was better.

Why do I get the feeling TD, that you aren't buying anything?

FWIW I bought a like new Kahles CB 1.5-6x42 last week, for my Illuminated scope. No more looking thru a Leupold VX3 straw for me.

Good luck servicing that Kahles when you have to.

He won't have any problems having his Kahles scope serviced should the need arise.

Doesn't Kahles have a US repair rep?

Hey Fost, we missed you at the big lunch gathering at DSC. Jorge bailed on us and we could've used you being there to buy us lunch.

Good to know about Kahles repair. There for several years in a row they switched US reps so fast you couldn't keep up with it. Maybe they finally got it figured out.

Yes.

Kahles USA - Khaybes LLC (Ken Pratt)
2170 Carney Dr. Suite F
Orofino, ID 83544
Phone: 208-476-0600 or 208-476-0601
Fax: 208-476-0602
E-Mail: infokhaybes.com