I purchased one of the new I.O.R. Valdada scopes last week to run on a heavy barreled AR-15. It's a 3-18X42 non-illuminated model with a 35mm tube. The scope arrived yesterday but didn't have time to look it over until this morning. I took it out of the box and made a few adjustments and started glassing. My 1st impression of the scope was it might just be the cleanest scope I own. The glass is unbelievably clear. The edge to edge clarity is unsurpassed by anything I own and the colors are as close to life like as any scope I've ever looked through. I was VERY impressed.

Then I turned the side focus knob to see if I could get anymore clarity out of the scope. I dialed it to 200 yards and looked though it and was even more impressed than before so I dialed it to "infinity" and looked again. Not so good but I really wasn't expecting it to be. Then I dialed it back to 200 yds again but this time I heard a pop in the scope as I turned the adjustment. No resistance, just a pop. "What was that?" I thought to myself. I looked though it again and there is now a line going though the reticle that shouldn't be there! I'm assuming I broke an internal lens with the parallax adjustment knob. This sucks! Brand new and broke right out of the box! anybody else ever had any trouble with one of these scopes? I heard they were extremely tough. This one sure doesn't seem to be. I guess I'll be making arrangements on Monday.

Terry

Buddie of mine went through two before he got a good one.
It happens.Outstanding glass but it kinda makes you wonder about the build quality.
Good luck and keep us informed about what there like to deal with .
dave

Will do. You're right, it's not a confidence builder

Terry

over on snipers hide there is quite a few with problems. I think about 80% reject rate.

IOR customer service has gotten real good. You should have a new scope in about a week. That's what the guys on the hide have had for experience.

80% is exaggerating a bit, this particular model has the worst of any IOR and last I heard it was about 10%. And a good portion of those were from me. Too high, nonetheless. I feel they rushed them to production before all the bugs were worked out.

The failure you had is the first one of that type I know of, so at least that's not very common. You should get a replacement and I'm sure it'll work well for you.

I don't recommend this model for heavy kickers at this time. I broke three. The last two likely would have lasted a lifetime one of my ARs or smaller rifles, but my light 300 RUM will expose any flaw really quickly.

It's a bummer, because you just can't get a scope that competes feature-wise and glass wise without spending twice as much money or more. The glass, the knobs, the tracking, the reticle...all just beautiful.

I do think your particular failure was an aberration you're unlikely to see again. If you were impressed with it before you even got it mounted, just wait until you have some trigger time with it. It's really a joy to use, you may fall in love. I will get another when finances allow.

Sorry I meant 80% were good. 20% reject rate. Got in a hurry. my bad.

I shipped home from Iraq a 2.5x10 IOR that had had a very rough service life. Long story short, I had my wife send it to IOR and they sent me out a new scope. They were excellent to deal with and did not even bitch about how badly my scope had been treated.

That kind of service will make me a repeat customer.