Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Schmidt Bender Stratos

Besides the weight and price, thoughts on a S&B 1.5-8x42 FFP with flash dot? I have never used a FFP scope and was worried about the usability of reticle at low power..
I have always wanted a S&B and am thinking this would be a good low light scope.... Thoughts ? Thanks, DD

The wide part of the reticle will be used for aiming at lower power...especially in low light. It is extremely effective in my experience.

I agree, it is a great scope:

Awesome scope.

While not the specific model you are inquiring about, I can tell you the 2.5-13x56/FD7 Stratos is one of the finest pure low-light hunting scopes available and is second only to the Polar in terms of moonlight performance. The resolution, color and contrast are stunning. While I personally would prefer a slightly bolder center wire, I never had an issue losing it under poor lighting conditions.

What a bunch of enablers. Bobby being the worst of them all.

I have a 1.5-8x42mm with the Flash Dot 4

Awesome glass, color, rendition, and contrast.
I wanted to mount it to my Kimber .375 H&H, but the tube mounting space is rather short making it impossible to mount with my preferred rings. Keep that in mind, as it can be a challenge to mount it optimally with magnum and even some long actions. I currently have it mounted to my AHR 9.3x62mm

If you are worried the reticle having enough mass when set at low power, the FD4 may be a better selection than the FD7. I like the 8x top end better than 6x on a 42mm objective for low light as it still would give you an EP over 5. Magnification can be an asset for that last light look at a rack.

S&B's are a bit heavy and I don't care for the programmable stuff, but for short to mid range whitetail in very low light--that scope, fitted well, may be the proverbial cat's ass for whitetail.

ymmv...

I have a 1.5-6x42 flashdot.
The lighted reticle..
I found it to be very effective on hogs at night.
And running anything during the daylight..

dave

Thanks for the replies, been off at deer camp and there wasn’t any internet service .... have been back and forth between this and a NF for my Fieldcraft 6.5..we have a big pig problem and our bucks move at last light so an illuminated reticle is preferred... thanks again DD

I have a couple of these scopes. I will state that I have Not mounted and used them yet. But have informally looked through them quiet a bit.
Not considering the weight and cost as you said, with one exception I like everything about them.
That exception is the high tech push-button / keypad illumination control. For me it sucks. I will also state, I do not have the best finger sensitivity. But, without looking and attempting to go by feel of which "control button" I am pushing is piss-poor. More than not, I am either on the wrong one or trying to activate two at once. This is without gloves, with gloves, I cannot see it workable for me at all.

If S&B had put the standard Zenith rotary dial illumination control on these, it would be near perfection for me.
I have two at the USA service center waiting on parts to change out to Zenith type controls.

One of these is a FD7 and the other a FD4 reticle. The FD7 is being replaced with an FD4 also.

The scope itself as to power range, field of view, etc; I Really like.
This scope for me, is the answer to the Zeiss Victory 1.5-6x42 with 1st focal #4 reticle that is no longer imported to the USA.
The Stratos 1.5-8x42 may actually have advantages as to replacing the Zeiss as My do everything scope.

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I agree with ldmay375 on the illumination control. It's a bit cheesy, if you ask me, and a standard rotary dial would have been my preference.

Manufacturers sometimes make decisions than can baffle a person, like SB using a smooth, all-steel magnification ring on the Polar series. It is very streamlined in appearance. In theory, that may be great. But in cold weather, for someone wearing gloves or someone with RA, arthritis or neuropathy like myself, it makes turning it a bit of a nightmare.

How much better is the Stratos than the Zennith line of scopes?

I personally do not know and don't have similar scopes to compare. The Zeniths that I have are 1.1-4x24 with 2nd focal FD7 's.
If I recall correctly, from the specifications the Stratos 1.5-8x42 has a bit more field of view than the Zenith 1.5-6x42.
Difference in glass and/or coatings, I do not know if or not there is any.

The Stratos falls between the Zenith/Klassik line and the Polar -- and is very, very close to the Polar. In fact, while the Polar does have the slightest edge in perceived brightness, there are things I prefer about the Stratos more than with the Polar. Its contrast and resolution combine to provide a more-pleasing daytime image, and the edge-to-edge sharpness is superior as well, though some will argue that's a moot point in a riflescope.

If the Stratos only had a smaller dot, then I'd take it over the Polar in a heartbeat.

Interested in this scope - any other reviews on it?

I've been using the 1.1-5x24 with FD9 reticle on a .358 several times over the past couple of months. I've only sighted it in (twice now since I've changed to a different mount), confirmed zero a few times, and taken in on a handful of hunts. I really like the FD9 reticle and the flashdot illumination for a hunting scope. Adjustments were exact both times when sighting in. The glass is very good and it lasted way later than a 24mm objective scope should on the evening hunts.

The 1.5-8x42 with an FD4 or FD9 and an elevation dial could check a lot of boxes for me.

I used the 1.5-8x42 FD4 on a 375 Ruger this year moose hunting. No moose killed, but I did spend 28 days in the woods with it. This was of the scopes that I sent back to S&B and had a Rotary Dial Illumination Control installed on. I do like this scope. The field of view on low power is good for spitting distances and 8x is more than ample for any distances that I will be shooting. The extra 2x's over my usual 1.5-6's could be handy at times. I played with the illumination a bit, in certain circumstances it could be useful. The FlashDot illumination I like, it appears friendly to my astigmatism.

I placed another with factory illumination control on a 416 Ruger to group some hand loads. I liked it well enough that so far I have left it in place. The rifle handles well with it, which was a little surprise for me. Though I will likely replace it with a Leica Magnus 1-6x24, maybe.

Considering how little that I would use illumination, I can live with the factory illumination control. And it has some pluses, but I still prefer the rotary dial.
I agree as to the ring mount spacing in regards to M70 H&H length actions. Does not work for my eye relief and my standard use mounts/rings.

I like the scope enough that I do have more than 2 now. I am undecided on whether or not to have the illumination controls on the others replaced with the rotary dial.

I also have one of the Stratos 1.1-5x24's. It has a FD7. I will be going for a reticle change to the FD 4. The Zenith 1.1-4x24 with the FD7, I like fine. The Stratos FD7 seems too wide of an opening and too fine of a center cross hair. It is also quiet a bit shorter than the Zenith 1.-4. It does seem like a very good scope though.

Some additional thoughts:

a) It is most suited for a short action rifle or a rifle whose mounting system is not related to the action size (e.g. Blaser R93/R8). It has a short main tube and long eyepiece, so make sure it fits your particular rifle and also check eye relief before purchasing or mounting. This comment also applies to the similar 1.5-6X42 Zenith model. These scopes are designed for the European rifle market which is dominated by Blaser. They are short and look nice on a rifle but the user must check first to make sure they are suitable for his/her specific rifle.

b) The rotary dial for illumination (Zenith-style) is the best. The flash dot is very crisp and is located in first focal plane. The actual size of the illuminated dot is, therefore, very small. In theory it should not be visible at low power but in practice it is if you put in in very high illumination level. This is due to an optical phenomenon called diffraction (similar to the way we see stars, all stars are just tiny dots but we see the bright ones as "large dots").

In general, an illuminated dot superimposed on the reticle is a great feature IF the brightness of the dot is correct for the background. I recently hunted wild boars with a Swarovski Z6 scope having illumined circle-dot reticle. In the rush to aim and shoot, I had put the illumination on the "day-time" mode which was too bright for the near dusk hunting time and when I looked at the boar I wanted to shoot the circle dot was too bright and distracting. I was too excited to think about changing illumination or changing magnification and that caused me to miss on the fist shot.

c) The design of the Stratos line has necessitated sever optical compromises: Effective aperture of the telescope has been scarified to create larger zoom range of 6X. If you put the scope on lowest power and look into the objective you see a bright circle of light. That is the "entrance pupil" of the telescope. You see that it is much smaller than the physical diameter of the objective. This is the case in Swarovski Z6 and even worse in Swarovski Z8. All these scopes sacrifice a very useful but not "buzz wordy" feature (large entrance pupil which, once divided by magnification, leads to large exit pupil) for the "buzz wordy" yet useless feature of high zoom range. I suspect (have no hard proof) that due to sever design constants imposed by 6X and 8X zoom, the optical quality of the latest models by Swarovski and Schmidt and Bender are inferior to the optical quality of the previous models with 4X zoom range.

-Omid

Good info, thanks for sharing