Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Tight eyebox on 3x9 ZA3 Minox scope

Hi, I have got one of Doug's open box specials. Initial impressions, nice glass, bad flare with low light (this was mentioned in the review so not a huge surprise) and most surprisingly a very small eyebox. Eye relief is ok, speced at 4 inches but they eye relief is way more sensitive that my other scopes (Bushnell Elite 3x9 and leupold 6x and 4x fixed powers). I was initially thinking that this would replace my FX3 6x42 on my main hunting rifle but while the glass is a bit better I don't think I can handle the super sensitive eye box on a hunting rifle.

My question is are any of the other Minox models any better? Is the 3x9x50 ZA3 any better? What about the 1.5x8 ZA3? If either of these models have a more forgiving eye box I would be tempted to swap my 3x9 for one of them. Otherwise I think it's going to have to go on a rifle that mainly sees range use.

Maybe try exchanging for another 3-9x40 ZA3. I have several of these scopes, never noticed the eye box being small.


Jim

Me either

Make that three.

Make it 4

Scope slut....

Who me??????????????

You never told me you had a Minox....

The eyebox on my 1.5-8x32 ZA5 is generous.

It was on the 7x57 last year and worked well

3x9x42 or whatever ZA3, no problemo, you have a lemon or something.

I wonder if I have a lemon too. I have one of the open box specials. I was out yesterday evening(yesterday was opening day of deer season here) and was looking around after the sun was down. The flare is horrible in low light. It is unuseable above 4X. I just could not find the right eye position at 9X to be able to see anything through it. The scope is fine in daylight although it does have a lot of flare above 6X.

Eye box is something that becomes apparent when you use the scope in the field under different conditions. Particularly if you are in a hurry.
That said, the flare problems leads me to believe you've got a bad scope. Only the cheapest "bubble pack specials"
of the past are that bad. Suggest you send it back for another. E

Thanks for the replies. It appears that most but not all people are happy with the eye box on their scope. My experience is the same as Marc. I went to the range yesterday and lined the Minox up against

6x FX3 Leupold
3x9 Bushnell Elite
3x9 Zeiss Conquest

The difference was noticeable the other scopes you could throw up to your eye, the Minox took a lot of fiddling to just get the sight picture and then it was easy to loose if you wiggled the scope slightly.

I have done a fair bit of googling and opinions appear to be split both ways. A couple of reviews described the eye relief as forgiving. A couple of threads on various forums describe the eye relief as very picky.

So the only real question is there really that much variation in scopes or is it just the subjective difference in peoples opinions.

I really want to like the scope. The picture is nice and clear. This issue basically rules it out for hunting use for me though.

I had the exact same problem with a Sightron Big Sky 3-9x42. Very nice optically and light as well with good eye relief but extremely picky eye relief your eye had to be dead center behind the eye piece and EXACTLY the right distance from the eyepiece or the whole view would blink out. I sold it right away.

Yeah, that's not cool at ALL on a hunting scope.

The Minox scopes intrigue me; I've got some of their 13x56's and they are nice to say the least. The price of these Minox scopes is amazing, and the weight is nice too. I just keep hearing enough bad reports to keep me nervous about them.

I looked at a couple minox scopes a while back, I left sure that I would never want to own one. the only scope that left a more negative impression on me was a pentax gameseeker.

Also think you got a bad one. Was looking at a 3-9 that my brother has yesterday and noticed how generous the eye box was.

Don't be. Just an average scope, in an average price range. Can't wait for Meopta to start offering turrets...

I think mine is going back. This thing can't be right. I am going to call today and see about getting it repaired or replaced. I bought it to replace a nearly 30 year old Leupold 3-9 Compact that has more flare than I like.