Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Price for used Leupold 2.5-8

What is a fair price for a used Vari-X III 2.5-8 in good shape? There are ring marks, but nothing that bothers me.

$300 give or take, up to $325 in nice shape.

I would pay $300 for a Matte one. Plus that is about the going from what I have seen.

$250

$200, and it's gone. $300, and it might linger for a while.

I sold mine for $200 and it went fast.

True story.

2 weeks ago I was in a local shop. They had a Winchester M70 in 270 with a VariX-III 2.5x8. Guy was haggling over price and didn't want to buy the outfit because he didn't "like" Leupold and wanted to swap to a BSA(serious). Shop owner said no way. I told the guy I'd buy the BSA of his choice and swap. HE TOOK IT. So, I got a real nice VariX-III for $59.99 plus tax. Saw the shop owner this week and the guy is tickled pink?????

I really feel bad at times but have had a hard time wiping the grin off my face.

Sorry for the hijack.

Now that is hysterical.

That is way cool.. I was at a gunshow a couple years ago and saw a rossi single shot 223 on a table with a Leupold VX-3 1.5-5 on it I bought the package for $225 as I walked across the show a guy saw the scope on the rifle and offered me $275 cash for the scope. I said Sold and got paid $50 to keep the 223 !

Much depends on what generation of vari-x-iii it is. The quality of the optics improved over time and old models, obviously, aren't as good and aren't as worth much as the last of the vari-x-iii models. You can tell the year of production by the letter prefix (or suffix) on the scope's serial number:

The Leupold Answer Guide
Age of a scope
Beginning in 1974, Leupold began letter coding riflescope serial numbers. All scopes produced during that year had the letter E as a prefix to the serial number. The next year the letter code was advanced to F, and so on through the alphabet. The letters I,O, and Q, were skipped so that they wouldn't be confused with numbers. When we reached Z in 1992 we started over at the beginning of the alphabet with letter A. This time we used a suffix. At this writing, in 2002, we are in letter code K.


74 E
75 F
76 G
77 H
78 J
79 K
80 L
81 M
82 N
83 P
84 R
85 S
86 T
87 U
88 V
89 W
90 X
91 Y
92 Z

Letter is now a suffix
93 A
94 B
95 C
96 D
97 E
98 F
99 G
00 H
01 J
02 K
03 L
04 M
05 N

That information is directly from Leupold's website.

Anyway, all of that being said if the scope you are looking at is one of the newer vari-x-iii's then I would guess that the market price for it is between $250 and $275 in a face-to-face transaction.

Some people are paying $300+ which amazes me. The new VX-II's have the same lens coating as the old vari-x-iii's. There is no reason to pay more money for a vari-x-iii than a VX-II. Once everyone understands how much the VX-II has been improved, the vari-x-iii market will take a dive.

There used to be quite a few good buys to be had on eBay for VX-III's because many people give them the same value as the vari-x-iii. You would see a vari-x-iii 1.5-5 sell for $280 and then see a VX-III in the same model go for the same money. People are catching on now, but it's still not uncommon to see vari-x-iii scopes sell for $300+.

The lens coatings are not the whole story though. The Vari-X III has one piece tube construction which is presumably superior, although Vari-X II and VX II scopes have an enviable track record of toughness and reliability. The main superiority of the Vari-X III over the VX-II is the underlying optical design/engineering of the lens system itself. The upgrade in lens coatings from Vari-X II to VX-II was a major advance and as a result the VX-II is one of the best deals going. But the Vari-X III is still optically superior, even without the big brightness difference now that the VX-II is fully multicoated, and so is worth more money. How much more is subject to debate.

mathman

I just got off the phone with Technical Support at Leupold, and the Tech person I spoke with disagrees with you. I was told that the Vari-X-II is NOT superior to a VX-II--either optically or in its construction. (Their words not mine. Feel free to disagree but I am just repeating what I was told).

This is the third time I have spoken with Leupold on this issue and have gotten the same answer every time.

(I have also done my own comparison tests and can't tell a difference in the optics, but I am not going to argue that my tests mean anything because my eyes aren't that great. I would encourage everyone to do their own comparison before paying $300+ for a Vari-X-III.)

Also, don't forget that you also have to establish how old any given Vari-X-III is before you can assess a value to it. Older Vari-X-III's (any potential collector value aside) are worth even less than the last ones made.

Yes- but what do they say the comparison is between the Vari-X-III and the VX-II?

I'll assume you meant Vari-X III. Starting from there I won't tell you that you should be able to see a difference, but in direct comparison I have. Also I had a "conversation" on these very boards with a guy from Leupold when the recurring VX vs. Vari-X theme arose a while back and he confimed my assertion.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...d&topic=0&Search=true#Post808205

I still think the VX-II is one of the best all-around bargains going, even if I don't see it as quite the scope the Vari-X III was.


mathman

You might wanna enter this submission to the 'tall tale' thread on the hunter's campfire page.... Even true, this is a great tale...

I sold a VariX3 2.5-8 for 400...as new in the box...about 1 yr old...never mounted.....also have 3.5-10 VariX3 which should bring me 450-475...also new in the box and never mounted...
I have found they hold their value very well...due in part to their warrenty...been switching to Conquests...and Nikons...
was really never very happy with Luepolds...

That's amazing, considering the price of a brand new VX-III 2.5x8 is less than that!

Good on ye, I suppose.

-jeff

Doh!! Yes, I meant to say that they said that the Vari-X-III is not superior to the VX-II.

Mea Culpa!!

That's a hoot! I wonder which Tech person is right???

Waders - I wrote down the information you provided regarding identifying the age of Leupold scopes and then used it to check the age of some of my scopes.
It kind of shook me up when I realized how old some of my scopes are. One question in particular came up. One of my scopes has the prefix NP. Nothing in your notes mentioned double letter prefixes or suffixes. Is this telling me the scope was built late in 1982 or ???
I went to the Leupold site but was unable to find the info you provided so I was unable to find out if Leupold covered this some where on their web pages.
Just a matter of curiosity since I have no plans to get rid of the scope in question and it doesn't need any work.
Thanks, Jim.