Originally Posted by huntsonora
The issue I have with Tract, among other companies, is strictly marketing at this point as I have never used any of their products....

With the popularity of social media and internet forums advertising is essentially free. In the "bigger, better, best" world we live in everybody wants to go straight to the front of the line without earning anything. In rare cases maybe its warranted but the best way to get to the front is to earn your way. When the first thing you see on their website is "EXTRAORDINARY optics" you really don't want them to be ordinary. The way I see it these guys went from Nikon to just another "me too" optics company that advertises direct to consumer and cutting out the middle man but at least some of the Nikon Monarch riflescopes are made in the Philippines, probably in the same factory and they are priced about the same. No middle man, similar price, somebody is making some coin. What sets any of these new optics companies apart from the rest? Same business model, same factories, same components yet none of these companies consider themselves "average". They aren't alpha glass and they aren't crap..... sounds average to me WHICH IS FINE...... don't blow smoke up my ass and tell me you're elite which is exactly the message we received from the first guy here pimping their products

Maven used to be Brunton and you can "accessorize" your optics which makes me feel gay just saying it. Tract is a couple of Nikon guys using contacts they made working for Nikon and branding their own stuff. GPO is a couple guys that were with Zeiss that started "German Precision Optics" and their $hit is made in Japan. No Germany? WTF? Whoever came up with the name for their flagship product should be fired for naming it after a porn site. Don't google "Passion HD" on your work computer. God almighty! Speaking of brand names, whats with "Tract"? Reminds me of tract houses... Nothing wrong with a tract house and it serves a purpose but I've never seen advertising for a tract house using words like EXTRAORDINARY. They exemplify average or adequate

I wish every one of these companies well, competition is a wonderful thing but I just get sick of the claims of how great they are. I've seen favorable reviews on each of them, what am I supposed to say, congratulations it works? If they put out a good product at a reasonable price point they don't have to be extraordinary or premier or epic or legendary or monumental or sensational or..... you get the point. Lots of people with average gear killing extraordinary animals. Its tiring to see everybody want to be the best without earning a damn thing

Mostly true, but serious internet advertising is far from free. Your own site is not expensive but getting beyond that raises costs quickly. The format of skipping the middleman means they will not be "advertising" the product in their stores. When retailers advertise most of the money comes from manufacturers.

Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.