Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics How bad are new Leupold scopes

I've got two VX-1 2-7's that do just that. A third one has been sent to Leupold and is much better now. I've had a few people tell me "send it in and it'll come back better".

I'm not sure how much that says for Leupold's manufacturing QC..............

Compared to older models?
All things being equal would you prefer a NIB VXIII to a VX3i?
VX3 to VARIX III?

I sure hope Leupold is becoming aware of the criticism--the Campfire has got to be the largest hunting/shooting website on the interweb these days. If not they're even more dense than we're accusing them of..........

Leupold is a $100M a year company. My guess is they could care less what the campfire says.

Leupold is a $100M a year company. My guess is they could care less what the campfire says.

I've had good luck over the past 35 yrs with L, having only one (recent vintage VX3) not track even close to what was dialed. My most recent 2-12 VX6 has made 3 trips across the pond to Africa and I've never touched the dials, and something has to be said for surviving the baggage handling gorillas. My Americase looks like a herd of hyenas has been attacking it. I've never dialed any Leupy very much, just occasionally.

Not trying to be smart or nuthin but for the same money, or less, what is better? Maybe I can be educated on this matter?

I need a scope with good eye relief and eye box dimensions and that, AFAIK, is LEUPOLD...this is more important to me than slightly better clarity, brightness, definition, repeatability, etc. I don't F with adjustments unless I'm changing loads and never had a lick of a problem doing this with a Leupold, Being that's the only time I adjusted, I even liked the old friction adjustments better than clicks..

I'm basically a hunter and wear thicker duds when hunting, despite thinsulate and goretex,etc., There's a difference than when shooting in the summer with a T-shirt on. I like a scope to come up without crawling into the stock too much. So, when someone say's they looked through a Leupold and a Brand X at dusk and the Brand X had better whatever, don't mean diddly squat to me if the eye distance and box don't measure up.

But that's just how I approach scopes, it seems to me that even a lot of the lower cost scopes of today are just as good or better optically than the top name brand scopes of 20 or 30 years ago. We killed just as much game then. Being US made is also a consideration that is actually important, IMO.

They built that $100million dollar company on a great reputation. They are losing that reputation. The market share they have already lost is astounding!
The tactical crowd is the fastest growing segment of the shooting industry and Leupold cant compete.
Mainstay companies fail all the time if they cant adapt and compete. Think Sears , Montgomery wards, Kmart etc.....

Hunters are a loyal lot and we want Leupold to succeed. But hunts are expensive and an optic failure is not to be tolerated.

They built that $100million dollar company on a great reputation. They are losing that reputation. The market share they have already lost is astounding!
The tactical crowd is the fastest growing segment of the shooting industry and Leupold cant compete.
Mainstay companies fail all the time if they cant adapt and compete. Think Sears , Montgomery wards, Kmart etc.....

Hunters are a loyal lot and we want Leupold to succeed. But hunts are expensive and an optic failure is not to be tolerated.

Agreed. Bean counting executives are able to burn through the equity which is a company’s brand because it’s not adequately accounted for on the balance sheet.

Always wondered about market shares in the sport optics market. Care to share what they are? Source?

In complete agreement! The only Leupold I returned for a failure on a hunt was a 4x M7 in 1967. The reticule broke which was promptly fixed and I still use it on a Mannlicher-Schoenauer. I have several newer models ranging from M8, Rifleman, VX-l, VXll, VariXll, and VariX-lll, use them and, until I've found all their attributes in another brand, will continue. My only complaint is they are too short and that is why I use a lot of El Paso Weavers and Denver Redfields.

I occasionally shoot USPSA matches with engineers from Leupold. I've told them about these threads and suggested to one that he should check them out. I'm not sure if he did as I haven't seen him for a few months. But you're right, they should know what their potential customers are thinking.

This^^^^^^^