Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics brightest hunting scope for old eyes

recommendations please:

listed in order of priority:
30mm
reliable
no more than a 42mm objective
BRIGHT (62 year old eyes) glass with a reticle optimized for hunting in low light
set and forget
under $500

thanks

Why is a 30mm tube the number one priority? The brightest scopes under $500 are going to be one inch tubes, almost without exception.

Meopta Meopros and Vortex Razor LH are the first two that come to mind, but they are 1" tubes.

Second on the Meopros. That is the best lowlight scope I have.

These two criterion don't really correlate with each other. 30mm only makes sense if you need additional travel or a bigger tube to fit electronics.



42 mm is not the "best" to get the "brightest" image unless you stay with lower magnifications.

However, within your wants;

We just went through this with some older folks on our lease. One saw a world of difference with the old Zeiss conquests..

The other just had issues this year and looking through a 40 year old 36 mm L, and a conquest and a Divari and a whatever my newest Zeiss something 5, he could tell NO difference to his eyes.

All I can say is the best you might do is hope to find others with similar better scopes and see if you could borrow them to look in the woods at dark etc.....might be the only way to know and there may be no difference to your eyes at this point.

Leupold vx5hd 2-10 power, if you're willing to spend 6-700 bucks.
If not, then go 1 inch tube and get a meopta meopro.

I`ve two Vortexs Diammon backs 3x9x40, 1 inch tubes. Excellent light gathering power, and an excellent FOV IMHO. I hunt in the woods, don`t like to "hunt" for what I`m going to shoot at, FOV is important for me.
But think Rost hit the nail...look through a variety of glass if you can, pick the best for you.

Meopro with good heavy reticle or Zeiss conquest.

We've got the Meopta Meopro 4.5-14x44's on sale for $449.99. There's no better scope that that price point (It is a 1" tube though)

Myself if price was not a factor i want a Nightforce scope on all my rifles ,on my main hunting rifles they all have Nightforce scopes including my truck rifle Ruger #1 220 swift for coyotes has a Nightforce scope.

First time I've ever heard that. I like Nightofrce as much as th next guy but if price wasn't a factor, I could do better....especially on a hunting rig.

good for you ! when i go to 1000 yard benchrest matches and 600 yard FTR matches 90 % or better of the scopes are always Nightforce scopes so i would think that would give most good game rifle hunters a reason to use this scope ,if they can afford this great scope ?

They shoot bench rest near dark?

This, at least the VX-5 HD part. I thought the wide-ish duplex wouldn't show up well in dim light. I was wrong. You'll have to pony up $100 over your budget cap though. Never tried the Meoptas, but I'm open to suggestion.

Meopta 3-9x50, 3.5-10x44 or 3-9x42 all with #4 reticle.

1000 and 600 yards in lowlight?

[quote=Dogger]recommendations please:

listed in order of priority:
30mm
reliable
no more than a 42mm objective
BRIGHT (62 year old eyes) glass with a reticle optimized for hunting in low light.
set and forget
under $500

Leupold VX-3i 3.5-10X40. It's not a 30mm tube but it is one fine scope. The main thing a 30mm tube will give you is a little more adjustment. However, if you want to stay under $500 you're going to be hard pressed finding a Good scope with a 30mm tube for that price. I'm 71 and the VX-3i works for my old eyes. Bright and Clear and rock solid and if you're brave enough to buy off Ebay, you can have one for $300-$330. I don't recommend buying one off an auction because sometimes they seem just too good to be true and sometimes they are too good to be true. I'd get one that's advertised NIB and labled Buy Right Now. I've had one spell of bad luck with Ebay and that was with an auction. But they made it good and gave me my money back. The scope on the auction was advertised as a VX-3i 3.5-10X40. But when I received it, it was a VARI X III that was made in 1981. Back in '81 coated lenses were in their infancy. They have improved 10 fold since. Those old scopes were great in their day, but newer technology makes them nearly obsolete. Heck, for $292 I could have had at least a VX-2 or a 50mm objective VX-1. And the optics on the new VX-1s are better than a 37 year old Vari X III. Anyway, I had my money back within a week and bought a new VX-3i from a store on Ebay out right.

However, I did do great on one auction. I bought another NIB VX-3i 3.5-10X40 for $265. If you buy a Leupold off Ebay, whether from an auction or outright from a store, call Leupold Customer Service and have them run your serial number to make sure Leupold made it (not a Chinese imposter) and the warranty is still valid. If not, report it to Ebay and return it to the seller per Ebay's return policy and get your money back.

If you qualify for the Leupold VIP Program you get a pretty nice discount off their scopes. That would put the VX-5HD mentioned just a hair over your price range.

What do you have to do to qualify for the Leupold VIP Program? I own 7 of their scopes.

Absolutely beautiful glass in that Leupold. I cannot speak for the Meopta....yet. I keep hearing about them, though.