Hello All

I just picked up a NIB B&L Balvar 6-24x40 AO. It is gloss with a duplex reticle. I paid around $400 for it. Good buy or not? I had a couple of these scopes years ago and can't remember much about them. What's everyone's opinion of them? Are they equal to a VariXIII of the same era? Were the B&L Elite scopes better or the same scope as the Balvar? Also, what is the difference(if any) between Balvars with the red triangle on the windage cap and the ones that say Bausch and Lomb(with small stars) on the windage cap. If I remember right the ones I had years agao were of the red triangle variety and this new one says Bausch and Lomb. I don't have it in my hands and was curious about a few things. Thanks in advance.

For the most part, great scope. I like them better than the elite series.

The Good: Great optics, multi coated, tough and bright, sleek. I think the optics, especially the coatings, were better than the Leupold coatings of the day, even the "multi-coat" Leupold came out with in 1990 as I recall.

The Bad: Longer and heavier than an equivalent Leupold. The entire ocular turns when you adjust power, thus the flip up type covers don't work so well. The elev/windage adjustments are sluggish, typically take a few shots to move after an adjustment.

I still like them, in fact I just picked up a NIB 4X Balfor compact just because I got the chance to do so.

Great glass; one of the better scopes of the time.

They are the predecessor of the Elite series scopes. Made in Japan, very bright, tough, clear, and I actually like the turning ocular magnification adjustment for cold or wet hunting conditions. Definitely a heavy scope, and the adjustments were never very precise or repeatable- I agree that they can take a couple of shots to settle in.

to my understanding the Elite line took the quality optics of the Balvar line and added precise repeatable adjustments. something that Leupold has taken forever to catch up with.

I'm at a loss as to why Leupold has failed to increase the reliability of their scopes. Instead they make some model number shell-game changes, and manufacture such oddities as the "pooper-scooper." It's obvious that Madison Avenue advertisers are running the show, not shooters, at Leupold. But, even with that handicap you'd think they would catch a clue and poll hunters and shooters to determine what they want; How to run a business 101.

1. Bushnell bought B&L.
2. B&L makes LOTS of medical optics.
3. PC docs objected to B&L label being on nasty old guns
4. Hospitals and universities took to Nikon and Leica optics.
5. Bushnell started the Elite line under the parent label.
6. Touch-Feely docs started buying B&L optics again.
7. Everybody's happy, we get good optics, so do the docs

Anyway, the Elites ARE the old B&L scopes, for all practical purposes anyway.

Except the Balvars were sleek looking scopes that looked good on a rifle. I'm still waiting to see the first sleek Elite!

my older 4000 Elite 1.5-6 x 36 looks pretty sleek on top of my Micro

Thanks for all the replies guys. Should look good on a tang safety Ruger Varmint 22-250. So did I pay too much? I agree that they are a nice looking scope(better than the Elite in my opinion) with excellent glass.

The two that I had experiences with were complete POSs and Bushnell has, without a doubt, the worst customer service in the industry- at least they did 10 years ago. I could go on and on but I won't. Needless to say, I have been very leery of them ever since. The only Bushnell product I own to date is an Elite 6500 series scope.