Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics The future of Leupold

I have a few dozen Leupold scopes that seem to work fine with the minimal stress that I put on them.

They are all set and forget scopes, so as long as they hold their zero they do what I need them to do.

Maybe Leupold just needs to determine which market niches they can successfully compete in and stop spending money trying to compete where the competition is more competent. If they go out of business, some other company will attempt to fill the void. The strong and agile survive while the weak and incompetent fail. Capitalism 101.

Remember that not too long ago Chrysler had a division called Plymouth, Ford had a division called Mercury and GM had divisions called Geo. Hummer, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn. When times got tough the companies all retracted their product lines and cut those that weren't successful.

I have several Leupold scopes, new and old. They all work very well. I do wish they would make a gloss blued model but other than that I like them and would have no problem buying another.

I've started using Redfield Revolution scopes (just about exclusively).

price point is fantastic, I LOVE the sight picture. weight is as skinny as it can be.

I've not found a need for much beyond the 4-12x40 for any "normal" hunting application.

it's Leopolds sister company, and I've not had a bad experience with any of them (4 so far).

Their market share has dropped significantly over the past ten years. Only two scope brands are growing much, Sig and Vortex. Leupold was number 1 and Vortex has passed them by a lot. Leupold is down about 20% in gross sales last number I heard and the market has grown and there has been inflation. They are not "in trouble" so much as they are under-performing the rest of the market.

Assembly...

I'd like to interject please. I disagree with "Only two scope brands are growing much, Sig and Vortex"

Vortex, Sig, Hawke, Athlon, & Meopta have all seen significant growth the last couple of years

Where did you find this data and is it a reliable source?

A lot of "facts" that appear on the internet and are repeated repeatedly have little relationship with reality/truth.

I don't know that I've ever seen a Sig or Vortex scope anywhere other than in a display case at Cabela's..

EDIT: Oops, I forgot that I traded for s rifle that came with a Vortex scope in 2017. I wonder where I put it?

Agree, however there is more competition recently. That being said, and again time will tell who will be around 10 years from now. My bets on Leupold for a sure win. Some of the others a maybe. However, the competition can almost guarantee Leupold will improve over time.

Maybe the farther away we get from active wars, there will be fewer pretend snipers and an equal drop in the market for "tactical" gear. There are probably as many pretend snipers these days as there are pretend Rangers and SEALs.

Maybe, however the long range game in the current rage. They are playing to the market, those that really play the game and those that fiddle on the fringes.

How many here think they need 12x plus to work up a load or shoot game under 200yards? Answer, more than a few....

Look at the magazine articles and you see more of the same.

.308 bullets fall too short in BC for many....

I just want to capped turret and heavy reticle options through the HD line. That would make me happy. Currently, I like the 3i line ok and a couple of HDs... Of course they’ve mostly abandoned heavy reticles in everything.

Leupold has missed the boat so many times over that last 20 years. They decided changing from Vari x to VX to whatever with the smallest increment of performance increase was worth another $100 increase in price. Meanwhile the competition came one with same performance at less price or better performance at the same price. I own more Leupolds than any other brand, however, they are old purchases and the last 10 years have gone by with other brands being bought and no Leupolds. I’m willing to bet a large part of the market is doing the same.
GreggH

Foreign scopes are giving them a run for their money. Lightweight hunting scopes with repeatable dials would put them back on the map.

But schit, it’s mostly what I’ve got. I can’t bitch too much.

Geez man....I still remember (and have) the first one I ever bought. It was like a rite of passage.

I'm sending one back tomorrow I have had less than a week and paid a thousand dollars for?

He pulled it outa his wazzoooo, like most everything else he says.

I have a couple of Weaver KT-15s that I use for load development and I shoot most of my game under 200 yards.

Too many people think that they can write a cheque or swipe a card and gain shooting skill that only comes with practice.

I will not buy a Leupold VX scope which I feel is inferior to their Vari-X line, I've owned Vari-X Leupolds since the early 1970's. Never had any problems with Leupold scopes, I use mostly Vari-XII's 2-7x & 3-9x and I set them and forget them. Once they're sighted in I leave them alone, check zero before hunting season and I'm good to go.

isent that the truth

It appears that Leupold turned a blind eye to Doug's thread addressing Leupold scope issues. Although they would never admit it, maybe that thread confirmed what they already knew about their scopes and could "possibly" have something to do with the streamlining of their product line. Just a thought. RJ

I'm a coyote hunter, my goto scopes on my combo guns are Leupold 1-4x20mm. I have Varix-II, VX-I, VX-II, VX-2 and a new Freedom and they all work well, no problems other than a second hand Varix-II that I bought second hand and died on the 5th shot with my Whelen all the others have held up well to both rifle rounds and heavy shotgun predator loads. I have a couple of 2-7 Compacts that do duty on my Sako Vixen again a great scope and a perfect fit for the little rifle. These are pretty much never fail $200 scopes what more can you ask? I never dial a scope for what I do for my kind of hunting reaching up to dial a scope is just one more movement to spook a coyote.