Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Is Leupold slowly losing its foothold?

Is Leupold losing a chunk of the market when it comes to scopes north of 8 or 9 hundred bucks? Is the internet to blame? I know I have slowly gravitated away from Leupold whenever a replacement scope or a new rig scope is needed. It started with a Swarovski, then I added Zeiss and today I bought a Nightforce. I still have Leupolds on rifles but those rifles do not see a lot of use. My very first scope was a Redfield Widefield that I put on a .30-06 in 1975. I thought that scope was THE bomb until I bought Leupolds.

Not much competition back then!

A hard earned good reputation seems to be slipping away and I don't really know if its deserved. Come backs are a tough road.

It seems to me like they want to be more like Bushnell caliber than European alpha glass with the latest smattering of low price scopes and not caring about QC issues with the higher dollar ones. I have one of the new freedoms and the glass is pretty good. There are just so many stories of them not tracking well, canted reticles, etc that I'm scared to trust a higher dollar one. I also had a VX6-HD that had very poor low light performance, maybe it was a dud.

They're a $100M/yr company. I doubt they give a crap about the 24HCF's opinion of them. Just a guess.

I respectfully disagree. I think the guys who are on the sales level care completely about the opinion of the forum folks as these are their bread and butter clients. Perhaps the number crunchers at the top are too blind to "get it".

Once confidence and interest in a brand starts to slowly diminish it is very difficult to rebuild.

I know from speaking with guys on the sales side and the customer service folks at Leupold that the forums are read and issues are taken seriously.

IMO, Leupold had a long period of coasting along as they were the "go to" for many people. Then about 10 years ago or so there was a change in the optics landscape with many new players, which generated serious competition and MANY new choices. I think it took a couple of years for Leupold to react to this change and in the past 3-5 years they have been doing great things as far as product line upgrades and changes.
Again, IMO, they are back to being excited about what they do and want to once again be the "go to" brand.

I wouldn't overlook them, actually, just the opposite, take a good look at what they've been doing and do so with an open mind.

Just my $.02

Here is my $0.02:

They have tried to meet so many price points and have a line of scopes for everything. I seriously have to wonder why there would be a need for both a VX5 and a VX6 line. I don’t get it! Seems like a company could streamline offerings, up the quality and lower the price. What I see Tract and SWFA attempting to do.

If I’m not mistaken, prior to the release of the VX Freedom scopes their lines of hunting variable scopes consisted of:

Rifleman
VX1
VX2
VX3
VX5
VX6
VXR
I may have missed some??

Plus all of their Mark 1-AR, Mark 4, 5 and 8. I have to think they have sacrificed quality for offerings. And I’m not necessarily a Leupold hater. Have a FX2 4x and a VX1 2-7x33.

To be fair, streamlining is what they are doing with the VX-Freedom. No more RIfleman, VX-1, or VX-2. Now it's just VX-Freedom, VX-3i, VX-5HD, and VX-6HD. Plus the Mark models.

Leupolds problem is simple:

They lost credibility during a time when a hunter/shooter could EASILY find a more credible product.

For the first time since I became a serious hunter/shooter, I don't own a single Leupold scope.

It would take quite a bit to get me back as a customer.

I do believe, to a certain degree, they are doing exactly what you proposed.

2 years ago at SHOT Leupold announced the VX-3i to replace the VX-3 line. The VX-3i (i standing for improved rather than illuminated which made no sense to me) was an upgrade to the VX-3 at a reduced price.

This past SHOT Show they announced the Freedom series which basically replaced the VX-1 and VX-2 series. Again, offering improvements at reduced pricing as well as not as many different variations, keeping the offerings cleaner and simpler.

As far as a "need" for both a VX-5 and VX-6 series, it's the same as Swarovski offering Z5 and Z6 series. 5x scopes vs 6x scopes with the 5x scopes being considerably less expensive.

I have no issue with them offering a range of scopes from entry through the VX6 line. They’re a big company, they can pull it off.

I have been very happy with the features of Leupolds such as weight, clarity, relief and so on. I did have one fail, and what I don’t know is whether they have made them more robust. I’ve also noticed they can be finicky to sight in. One click is not always the same. I’d like to see them address that.

I have been using Leupolds for almost 55-60 years. In all that time except for one occasion, I have never had a problem with one of them. The exception was when a jeep ran over a rifle and scope. They replaced it at no charge. About eight or nine years ago I sent three old one in and again they went through them at no charge. I'm a gun nut so I have had many rifles over the years (also a retired gunsmith) so I've had a lot of them. My Daughters and their husbands plus my Granddaughters also have Leupolds. I feel in this day and age many companies forget about service but not Leupold. I think the new affordable 3i line are a great buy. Again. their customer service can't be beat.

Doug have you heard anything from Leupold about replacing there erector system with a new one? I have a good source saying they are working on it.

I think we can insert an American car company in your statement. Being in the business for as long as you have, I believe what you said.

I hear you. Been using them for 40 years but "set and forget" is what keeps Leupold rolling. Do you twist turrets at the range or hunting?

True, and I agree regarding their reduction in the number of lines. While I haven’t tried one of the Freedoms, I can only guess it will help with both sales and quality. I was responding to the question about why they appear to be losing a portion of the market. I still think they could streamline more. I don’t know their costs but I would wager they could drop some VX5s and sell VX6 scopes for not much more than VX5 prices because they wouldn’t have all of the extra inventory and overhead. Just my opinion of course. But with VX5 3-15s for $900ish and VX6 3-18s for $1700ish I think those are almost redundant, except for price obviously.

This.

That change was the war. Leupold suddenly had to face serious competition from European glass makers. I don't think they were used to that or expecting it, and I don't think they've recovered.


Okie John

Mostly at the range for sighting in. But I have used them successfully on a couple of Bucks at long range.

About 4-5 years ago I decided to slowly upgrade my optics across the board and Leupold was the first name that came to mind...then I started reading...hard to make the leap when there are that many negative reviews out there.

I wouldn't overlook them, actually, just the opposite, take a good look at what they've been doing and do so with an open mind.

That's a tough choice for folks to whom a scope purchase represents serious money, considering the potential consequences for failure in the field, and that the only remedy Leupold offers is repair or replacement. A money-back guarantee for failure within even 90 days would stir up some confidence. Promising to repair crap forever or replace it with more crap just prolongs the agony. (As I've mentioned before, my only trouble with Leupolds has been the elusive zero, but other reliable sources have had real problems.)

Doug, do they recognize that there are real, serious issues with their products, or do they dismiss them as "customer issues"?

Well the gained me, for what that's worth(or maybe Weaver lost me, not sure which). I've looked over the "Freedom" and compered it to the VX2, frankly, it's GREAT glass for the money. It is what is going to be sitting on top of the rifles I'm building for my boys...

Doug, I'll be giving you a call after I get the rifles back from McMillan for those.

I'm thinking this would be true for any and all scope makers, no?