Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Leupold 3xi vs Swarovski Z3

I own both scopes. The Swarovski has better optics in low light,but the VX3i is a very good value for the dollar and has optics that are quite good,better than you generally need to get the job done frankly.

Unless every last bit of low light performance is critical,like maybe hunting baited leopard, you will not be able to tell the difference in the field.

so your blowing
well I have to know why you would say that because it makes no sense. It implies that a thin, easy to lose at dark or in a thicket reticle with superb glass is better than OK glass like the VX-6 glass, and a good easy to find aiming point, again what is your point? and we are talking a Z3 here, not their expensive scopes.

I just do that off my back deck as the sun sets, Kahles, Victory, Leupold VX6 and NF NXS. At last legal hunting light plus 10-15 I can still use the first 3.

I've had numerous VX3 duplex, VXIII duplex, FX3 heavy duplex, and a couple of VX6 duplex scopes off the top of my head, in the field with various hunter's (and my own) S&B Summit, Z5, Z3 (my own), Diaviari, and a 5-25NF something or other. While the argument can be made that all of these have better glass than my Leupy's mentioned (it's arguable in the VX6's case though, IMO) the various reticles in these euro wonder scopes sucked, in very poor light and especially up against a brushy background. I could use the Leupy heavy duplex longer than any of them.

I'm not guessing, you obviously are.

I think there's a failure to communicate here.

I think Mr Raider is thinking that Jimmy P is saying that the best scope,which is to say the more expensive ones ,have the better reticles. I took Jimmyp's statement to mean that the best scope was the one with the easiest to see reticle,no matter what the price or brand of the scope.

I took it as jimmyp saying that the scope with the absolute best glass would automatically have the best low light usability regardless of what reticle it had, and that isn't true.

If I took that wrong, then I owe jp an apology.

In SC, we can legally hunt deer/hogs until one hour AFTER legal sunset. That is why there are so many higher end optics sold here.

Why do all you great white hunters need to shoot your deer after dark ? Here it's illegal to kill them after dark but the folks who do {generally referred to as poachers} usually use a spotlight. Crypes I hunt some dark azz cedar/hemlock swamps. With full overhead canopy cover it's darker than Hillary Clintons heart at last legal light in there. Hell it's darlk in there at noon on an overcast day, yet I've killed deer at last legal several times over the years with my vx-1's and 2's and have yet to be forced to pass on an opportunity even with my lowly Weaver classics or Bushnell 3200.

Because deer hunting hours in NY are sunrise and sunset. They are 1/2 hour before sunrise and 1/2 hour after sunset in most southern states .

I can still see to shoot well past sunset with any of those scopes. Have checked that many times on my way back to the truck after a hunt. From what I've seen, many if not most southerners hunt out of blinds or stands overlooking fairly open areas. Fiields, food plots, power lines, pastures etc.. I can assure you it's darker at sunset in a hemlock swamp than it is a half hour after sunset in the open.

Some of us aren't even concerned with deer. Here in TX, one can shoot hogs around the clock. And most hogs are quite nocturnal, particularly during the 11 months of summer we seem to have here. I am disabled and have a number of medical issues that prevent me from getting out and hunting, so my shot opportunities are a mere fraction of what they once were -- and I'm relegated to sniping creatures from a shooting rest near the house. So I want good glass to make the most of my rare chances to bag something. Thus, good glass -- glass with the ability to resolve fine detail under the worst of conditions while still transmitting ample light to produce a usable image -- is mandatory, as is a reticle with a small illuminated dot that adjusts dimly and doesn't affect one's vision in diffused moonlight.

For deer in daylight to 30 minutes after sundown, it is no secret that a Leupold VX-2 would serve one admirably, and a VX-3/VX-3i or a Zeiss Conquest would be even better. But in the type of lighting I encounter, I can assure you that a VX-2 in diffused moonlight -- from a ground-level view -- will not allow you to make heads or tails of a black hog at 150 yards, the closest I could ever hope for a shot (I can't get closer). Intermediate quality scopes like the Conquest DL (and earlier Duralyt) 3-12x50 with #60 reticle are amply bright but make target definition a bit of a challenge when conditions aren't the best. It's when you get to the quality level of the Leica ERi, Kahles CSX, Victory HT and SB Polar that the game changes a bit, although the advantages they offer are indeed small and only notable to those willing to spend hours behind them to compare and contrast with others. (And for anyone who thinks alpha glass is a miracle worker and turns night into day, you'd better save your $$ as you'll be highly disappointed).

Whether it's worth it or not is up to the individual. For me, it is, even though I had to sell off a number of my guns to upgrade. And the benefit of that nice glass doesn't have to be relegated to hogs in near-darkness, either. I've also picked off predators under conditions in which lesser scopes would have left me without a shot opportunity (I refuse to take an iffy shot). The better resolving power of alpha glass will also allow one to discern detail such as muscles, ribs, etc. on a deer at last light and to know if an animal is perfectly broadside or slightly quartering, etc.

Lastly, there is no perfect scope. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and we all have our own perceptions of what's most important to ourselves.

Ahhh, hogs at night. I see. I've no experience there and will take your word for it that "alpha glass" is required for such.

I cheat and use one of those light things with my beta glass.

I've done the same on occasion:

I use a spotlight.