Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics US optics?

Looking at the 1.8-10x42. Anyone have any experience or opinions on this one.? How does it compare to nightforce nxs compact?

I don’t have that scope but I do have a US Optics variable 3.2x22 and it is a very nice scope. Glass is very good as for as resolution and clarity are concerned and the adjustments are positive. It doesn’t hold up to a S&B in low light if that is important to you.

I have a USO 1.8x10x37 illuminated.
It is a good scope at 10x, but the FFP makes the reticle disappear for me on 1.8X.

I have a NF NXS compact 2x10x42 C458 illuminated that is SFP.
The reticle is a double image on high illumination, but at least I can see it.

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I got my USO scope in 2013 for cheap.
Then I realized I had the adjustable objective off by 180 degrees in the double pitch threads.
That scope had gone from owner to owner every few months for 5 years.
I called up USO and told the woman, "I could unscrew this screw right here..." She screamed at me, "DON'T TOUCH THAT SCREW..... send the scope back and we will fix it."
I almost let the Nitrogen out, I think.
Other than yelling at me once, the USO people are very nice and fixed it for free.

Thanks for the replies. They are on sale now and significantly less than the nightforce. Is the tracking and reliability on par with nightforce?

Yes, they're built like tanks and are heavy. I've owned a couple over the years, one being the 1.8-10x37. As far as I could determine the clicks were accurate and repeatable, it held zero and would return to zero. The glass is good, but it's not quite as good as S&B/Tangent Theta/Hensoldt/Zeiss...

Go Nightforce & don't look back!!

I have recently went with a b-17 it’s an amazing optic. It out classes the Nightforces that I have by some measure.

No. And here’s why-

NF tactical lines are built and tested like no other scopes by any other manufacturer. The reason that a NF NXS/ATACR will work correctly out of the box as close to humanly possible every time is because the are designed correctly, the components are specifically selected for longevity and correct function, those parts are assembled correctly, and the QC/QA is nearly flawless. Then NF does what no one else does and tests every scope for tracking, return to zero, impact testing, zero retention, glass clarity and resolution. When you get a NF it has the intitials of the person that tested it and said it was “good”.


The above isn’t a sales pitch or fan boy’ism- it’s reality. NF sits alone in how they design, build and test their scopes. S&B, Hendsoldt, etc. design scopes well and generally use top line components, but they do not check and test like NF does. Because of this they have more scopes that leave the factory with uncaught errors and issues.

As to US Optics: they can build a really good scope. Unfortunately they also let scopes go through that have issues. Sometimes big ones and almost always with QC. They are all but hand built which is good and bad. Good because done right, you get a solidly put together optic. Bad because there is variance to each one. USO more than any other in my experience, has more variability scope to scope. Put ten identical USO’s next to each other, and you can see differences in glass, tracking, feel of turrets, etc.



Issues from the factory with a Nightforce is almost unheard of. Issues with USO are relatively common. If you like the package that USO offers and you are willing to potentially work with them if it doesn’t come perfect, go with it.

Thank you. That’s the information I needed. I’ll stick with nightforce and the extra cost will be worth the peace of mind.

They had the contract to repair USMC Unertls.

MTC comes from them.

They used to put out a calendar.

Mine is a tank, and I love it.

Thanks Formi. I should refrain from comment and read rather than post.

? No, not at all. The majority of USO’s are fine, and if you get a good one you’ll probably be quite happy. One just can’t say as an entirety that US Optics is as reliable as NF because of their variability in my experience. And my most recent experience with enough use to confidently speak to it is 2015- they could be better now.

Nightforce scopes adjust in MOA or Mils, unless US Optics has recently changed their MOA adjustments are actually IPHY.

US Optics SUCKS......overrated, overpriced, and they WILL fail at some point!! They are LIGHT YEARS behind Nightforce, Swarovski, Kahles, Zeiss, S&B, etc.. etc...

Get the Nightforce and go shoot with confidence in your optics!!

I got one variable from them around 2002. Talk about a monster. It was a top end of 22X. I forget what the lower end was. It was HUGE. It had an 80mm Objective, a 40mm main tube. It had a layer of protective glass over the Objective to protect the actual objective lens. That never made sense to me because the protective lens was not coated, so it was reflecting a lot of incoming light. John Williams Sr. had been promising me a variable for several years and that's what he sent me. I never mounted it on anything. We had an unexpected Tax bill and I had to sell it.
I sold it to one of the founders of the now Tangent Theta. At the time they were still called Premier Reticles, but Dick Thomas had passed and the company went into high gear producing some really nice scopes and quickly stopped working with any reticles. At the time I was hung up on S&B PM II 5-25X56s, so I never bought a scope from Premier Reticles/Tangent Theta. I got some money together and tried to buy my USO monster back from the guy who bought it from me. He said, sure, for $1000.00 more than he paid. Never communicated with him again, and never will. Nor will I ever purchase a scope from that group.