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

Call Doug and get a price on a Meopta Meopro 3.5x10x44RD. It has an illuminated dot in the Reticle (#4 is my favorite). weighs 17 ounces, solid adjustments, 44 mm Obj and very good glass. You won't be sorry. RJ

Don't forget the used market. If you can find a Tasco Titan it is a great scope

I am the same age as you with aging eyes, and I found the VXR 30mm 3-9x40 with either the duplex firedot (heavier reticle and a bit wider than the standard Leupold) or the same scope with a ballistic firedot (has a circle x) works real well for me. I have not yet used the firedot in a hunting situation, but it is nice to have just in case. The 4-12x50 in the VXR line might be better for you, where I hunt I do not need the extra magnification.

i plan to put eyes and hands on VX-R 3-9x40 balllstic firedot and 4-12x50 duplex firedot as soon as i find someone local who has them

the ballistic firedots seem to be much lower inventory

I have used Leupold entry level scopes for years such as the Rifleman, and VX-1. I don't consider the VX-2 to be lower level. They have good usable Light Transmission and click adjustments. I have a VX-2 with an adjustable Objective lens for parallax. It's on my favorite hunting rifle. I bought several VX-3is and could have put one on that rifle but didn't. The VX-2 is all I need. However, if your eyes are getting weak through age, you might look at a VX-3i in 3.5-10x40. They are extra clear and don't cost a kings ransom.

Opps! I already gave a speech like this on this thread. Getting old sucks sometimes. Your memory ain't what it used to be. I thought I was on another thread. Oh well, repetition makes for perfect, LOL!

Trijicon Accuupower or VX-R would be something to look at.

Rats, I see that the VX-3L 4.5-14x50mm with illuminated B&C is no longer made...

Leupold sure discontinues a lot of scopes... looking at their website for illuminated B&C and most are things of the past

I'm 66 with baby cataracts and glaucoma may be knocking at the door. I purchased a Meopta meostar 3-10X50 with a #4 reticle. The scope would be nice for bracketing deer in low light but I like a thicker center reticle. I did take a nice 8pt with the scope in good light. I've found that for me, I like scopes with thicker reticles. Most deer I take are within 100 yards and need to be shot fast. Thicker reticles are also better if you wear bifocals when you hunt or need to make a off hand shot quickly. I compared the Meostar 3-10X50 to its replacement, the Nightforce 3-10X42 forceplex, in low light. My eyes could not tell the difference in brightness. The thicker center reticle of the Nightforce could be seen sooner than the Meostar center, even without turning on illumination. I bought the Nightforce for my Fieldcraft, however you certainly don't need to spend that much for a scope for low light. My meat getting muzzle loader wears a 10 year old, $175.00 Bushnell. I would call Doug at cameraland.

Also wanting a scope with an illuminated reticle, I bought a Vortex Viper. I liked the scope, but the illumination, even at the lowest setting, was far too bright in dim light circumstances. I replaced it with a Leupold VX5 HD 3-15 with the firedot, and I believe I now have the scope I needed. The firedot can be adjusted to be bright or to be so dim you can barely see it. Now I’ll be able to put the dot on a black hog in dim light.

Winter is getting long here with a layer of ice under the snow....the dog won't even go in the woods and the deer are using the driveway more than their normal runways. So, been comparing reticles and dots for a couple weeks at an hour past sunset.

fwiw...

Getting a 30mm tube with a 42mm objective kinda limits choices and prices, doesn't it?

As been said before the reticle showing up is more important than a scope's light transmission figures--with today's scopes certainly where mid-range stuff is very good. Optics' ability to show contrast betwixt a critter and the background can do more for a guy than a higher transmission figure. Had a couple alpha type binos with large objectives and equal power to compare last year for some time. Interestingly post sunset, the one with better contrast outperformed the other in terms of resolving detail, in spite of its 5% light transmission disadvantage.

Like said above, also prefer a heavier cross-hair to having to bracket due to a fine cross-hair fading out in the right conditions. But that did account for my best whitetail to date using a 4 type reticle with a fairly narrow center. As far as I know Leupold has the heaviest cross-hair in the HD--which I believe subtends more the the older Euro FFP scopes dialed up to max. Number one type reticles always show up.

Considering a 500 dollar cost...illumination will do one thing for a guy--show the crosshair or aiming point. That is just peachy provided the light source can be dialed down enough for low light use and the subtension is small enough. Small dots improve precision when things get a little fuzzy, no doubt...but they ain't cheap.

Otherwise what exactly does illumination do for you, particularly on a budget? No manufacturer has put illumination in their binoculars...yet....:) And at least for me the great unknown mystery ahead is how much the illumination unit is going to cost for a repair? Half the cost of the scope? The warranties on the illumination portion of the scopes that I have paid attention to are pitifully short. Last night the one that caught my eye was 2 years on the illumination and 25 years on the scope. Longevity appears to be grim.

yeah, i took some measurements and i can mount a 30mm scope with an objective of 50mm without issue, i am very certain.
the Leupie VXR 4-12x50 with ballistic firedot is discontinued. ditto the 3-9x50

i shot myself in the @$$ buying 30mm rings. lol

the only thing i have found that hits my original spec is a Leupold VXR 3-9x40 with ballistic firedot for $499 at Bear Basin

There is 2 VXR 3-9x50 in the classifieds right now...

i am just going to have to bump the budget to $999

Good, you can buy my Swaro Z5 3-18 for $999

lol, i am back to square one on the search.
very bright
set and forget
reticle useful for precise shot at limits of shooting light (range won't exceed 200m)
30mm
no more than a 52mm objective

Yeah dude, 30mm rings is one of those things people like us see and think we gotta have it. But realistically 30 MM is a specialty thing. I have one and the amount of additional light it transfers is minimal in my opinion. It's certainly not worth the extra money and pain. Then I guess you can run into other problems with it fitting right or like was mentioned, disrupt cartridge ejection. Don't get me wrong, 30mm and even larger tubes have their place. They give you more clicks of adjustment, which you might need for shooting 1000 yards or more. But for what you described you can get all you need out of a 1 inch tube without the additional pain. I mean I love my scope with the 30mm tube, but if it's more clear than my 1" scopes it's because it has a 56MM Objective lens.

Hey Dogger I see all those you're looking for on Ebay and the various places on the net, Optics Planet, even Midway. I've had good luck buying online with only one occasion being the exception. I bought what was advertised as a VX-3i 3.5-10X40 off an Ebay auction, but when I received it, it was a VARY X III which was 37 years old. I mean it looked to be in excellent shape for that old but in 1981 coated lenses were in their infancy. I could have bought a brand new VX-1 4-12X40 cheaper and it would have superior optics. But they gave me my money back with no problem and I turned around and bought a VX-3i 3.5-10X40, the scope I had originally wanted, in the same breath that was as advertised and NIB for $27 more. With Ebay, in my opinion, it's not a big risk. I no longer do the auctions but I buy directly from a store who sells off Ebay. You will probably pay $20-$30 more but it will be NIB with full lifetime warranty and at least $50-$100 cheaper than Optic's Planet or Midway.

Dogger I have 55 year old eyes. I have an IOR 6+42 30mm scope on my moose and elk gun. Not sure if you require a variable scope or not. It is very bright, clear and the duplex reticle is very heavy which I like. Excellent in low light. SWFA has them for $600. Cheers.