Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Sightron scopes

Was wondering why no love for the Sightron scopes. I have owned a few of the S1 and S2 over the last couple of decades and they have performed way above their price point, good optics, tracking has been spot on and the ones I have owned were not made in China. I have never owned any of their upper level ones but I am guessing that they are also just as good, or possibly better, than their counterparts and generally at a more resonable price.

The optics in the S1 have been better than the Burris Fullfield ll and on a par with the Leupold VX-2 and yet they are never mentioned when it comes to bargain priced scopes. Poor marketing ??


drover

I have no idea why they're not more popular than they are. I have several of them...SIIs and some S-TACS, and they're good scopes. I REALLY like the Big Sky version of the SII...just scored another one tonight.

Sightron doesn't do much marketing so most of its products existence is known through word of mouth.

The SII Big Skys are some of the best midrange scopes you can buy...

I've had three of the old Japanese S-1's. The first one had a dark spot on an interior lens so I sent it back. Sightron prompltly replaced it with one that was minus the dark spot. I was never impressed with the optical quality. It was definitely not as good as my Jap Weaver classics in that regard and cost almost the same. No reason it should be as bright as the Weavers since the S-1 only had fully coated optics with multi coating only on the exterior lenses while the Weavers were fully multi coated. Anyway, the S-1 fogged internally after two or three seasons so I sent it back, Sightron again promptly replaced it and since I was never real impressed I sold it. Oh and one more thing. Your eyes must be different from mine because in comparing ithe s-1 side by side with my aforementioned Weaver Classics as well as my Nikon pro staffs, Bushnell Elite 3200 and Leuplod vx-1's and 11's I found it optically inferior to all.

The s1 was inferior to my eye compared to the Burris Droptine. It was on par with the Bushnell Trophy XLT.

Recently picked up an STAC 2-10×32 with the hunting reticle. My Weaver and Burris scopes are a bit better optically but the truth is this $299 Sightron is plenty good. Besides, the most important function of an scope optic is maintaining zero and/or returning to zero. Having the most correct hi res no distortion optics is actually pretty far down on the list.

I've been using Sightron stuff since they began as a company. Their higher end SIII LR 8-32's stuff rivals NF both optically and mechanically. Even in their lower S1 series, the tracking system remains of the same design...actually what I consider to be an improved version of the original Weaver Micro Track system. Alan Orr at Sightron is a competitive shooter himself, so he's well aware of what shooters need.

Their STac series are killer good scopes at very good prices. I'm damn impressed with the 5-20 version I have. The SII 4-12 A.O. model is another good one.

Good shootin'. -Al

Have SI,SII and SII Big Sky The SI never impressed me.The SII is a good scope much better than the SI.The Big Sky is a great scope especially for the money they closed them out for have 4 wish I would have bought more

I've had several..and they always seem just "almost" there. Good to great glass, mediocre reticles, cheesy turrets with no zero stop, etc...

Drover-

I agree with your opinion of Sightron. I've had several different models over the years with most being the SII's. Shot my largest whitetail with a 3x9 SI though. Better bang for the buck than several others.

I have a 4-20 S-Tac, best $300 scope I ever had. Glass is super clear. My only regret is that it doesn't have zero stop. I needed 1.5 MOA more on the 1000 yard range with my 6.5 Creedmoor.

I've been using a S-II 1.5-6x4?mm on my coyote rifle for 16yrs and it has never let me down. It rides on my MC on the rough two-tracks down here and hold up well.

Yesterday


I have or had 1.5-6x4?mm by a number of companies and the Sightron is top-notch.

I bought a SII 8 or 10 years ago and used it on .300 and 7mm Weatherby hard kickers for working up loads. Holds zero perfectly and glass is pretty good. I bought another one recently for a spare. The first one was made in Japan and the newest one in the Philippines. The old one is sitting on a new-to-me 7x57 to wring out the accuracy. I like to eliminate a scope as a possible reason for poor groups. Solid scopes. What you see is what you get.

I like the S2 better than the S1 but the S1's I have owned have alway performed well, especially considering that they are bargain priced compared to comparable scopes in their price range.

I really don't understand why they don't advertise more and do more marketing.

drover

A couple of years ago, Sightron S1H 4-12x40 AOs were selling on-line for around $120 and seemed like a good value to me. I bought six of them with pink accents which I assume were made that way for marketing toward girls and women. I called Sightron CS and they sent me black windage and elevation caps to replace the pink ones. I couldn't get rid of all of the pink accents, but changing the caps out made them look more "old guy" and less "young girl" to me.

I have them installed on a 10/22 and 5 RAR-Ps chambered in 223, 22-250, 243, 260, and 6.5 CM. Except for the 10/22, I haven't shot any of them a lot, but they seem to hold their zero just fine.

I did have a Sightron 3-9x32 rimfire that I didn't care for, as the view reminded me of the Weaver V10s, like looking through a magnified paper towel tube.

I own three of them, two S-Tacs and an SIII Long Range. Great tracking, clarity and view seem on par with everyone else. My big gripe...those are the worst reticles. They are 15 years behind everyone else. Two of them have the "MOA" reticles and they are good for steel, but too thin for hunting. The other one I have is a duplex, and works like any other duplex. They need a reticle with numbered drops and wind holds. I still think they are the best cheap scope out there for dialing though.

I am primarily a duplex user so the lack of drops and windholds doesn't bother me. I do have a couple of scopes with the drop dots in them and I have never found them particuarily useful, although I rarely shoot over 300 yds anyway. Even when shooting ground squirrels and PD's at 300 I just hold on the head instead of center body, guess I have just spent too many decades doing it that way to bother with anything else.

drover

Had a S2 6x HBR with fine cross hair on my rimfire and tracking was excellent. Optics were bright and clear and my only criticism would be that the eye box seemed a little critical. Not real bad but just enough to take note. It wasn’t an issue unless I spent extended time behind it. I have no experience with any of the newer recently made models.

I had an SII and a BIG SKY SII. Both had extremely critical eye relief. Your eye had to be EXACTLY the perfect distance and lined up perfectly centered to get a full sight picture. The optics were really good though.