No doubt, ZOOM matters in resolving detail, and an IER scope likely has alot of lost light from the sheer distance of the lens to the eye, i.e. the shorter ER scopes i.e. some of the Euro's - it has no downside, as a Bino has VERY SHORT ER and likely your eyes are up against eye cups - so little light is lost along the way to the eye.
No doubt glass matters, I just wondered how much diff one gets as the gap in glass quality from BOTTOM tier to TOP tier closes.
Re: seeing horns, I shot a button buck once, by mistake, broadside standing at 100 yds, VXIII 4.5x14 on 14x, another using a 4200 6-24x - on 24x - at 200 yds....
Spotting 'Buttons' w/a scope is not always possible IMHO shy of the highest quality spotting scope on a tri-pod and w/an objective large enough to transmit light.
Sounds like a majority of shots can and have been made using older tech scopes - the VX1 IIRC now has MC4. At one time - that was sd to be 'the top end' I believe. Times change..and tech no doubt.
Good posts and appreciate all - thanks.
