Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Current Vx-1 and VX-IIs - ever NOT killed b/c at dawn or dusk due optics?

I personally really like the Vx-1 quite a bit. 3-9x40 rocks on the 300 Ackley.

Couple of years ago I was hunting a scrape line and after a NICE 12 pointer I had on camera....At darks I saw him step out onto the field edge at about 125 yards...It was past or close to the end of legal shooting light but I would have taken the shot and not felt guilty.

Anyway...I confirmed him in my Swarovski 7x42 SLCs....I raised my 338-06 with a Leupold VXII Duplex and could not find him...I repeated this 3 times and when I thought I finally had him in the scope on 3x I then couldn't make out the standard Duplex.....He lived.

The next season I began to change out to 6x42s, 6x36's and 3-9 40mm scopes with Heavy Duplex and German #4's.....to me the reticle is as important if not MORE important than the glass when hunting the Thicket Goats here in the Southeast.

Bruz

You should have turned the scope's magnification up. While that will make the image appear darker, it will allow you to see better. But there is a range limit which varies with each day's light conditions.
You also want to remember that a binocular will resolve better because you are using two eyes. E

No ...

This is falicious. I have compared too many too many times to let this go. I have tried it with Vortex Raptor 6.5X32, Bushnell Ultra HD Legend 8X42, RSI 10X32, Minox 13X56, Minox 15X58, Nikon 7-15X35.

Everytime the binos looses to the quality scope when the scope is turned to a higher magnification than the binos. Everytime.

I have only had one scope cost me a deer. It was a Tasco Mag IV. Go figure.

Again, Ringman, try taking an eye test with both eyes, then do the same test with just one.
I understand you are basically night blind. That may make it hard to follow some of this. E

George, all the classic euro night hunting scopes were 6X's and 8X's not 3-4X. That's because the more magnification you have puts you, in effect, closer to the target. When the light is bad, the closer you are the better you can see it.
But you must have enough exit pupil size for the scope to work and eyes that work under such light conditions. E

I'm not a fan of the VX-I, and I certainly like the best glass you can get for the money, and you can get a lot better glass in the same price range as the VX-I, but that being said, I don't think anyone would miss out on a deer in legal hunting hours in this part of the country using a VX-I. Since I still have one of mine mounted on a muzzle loader I've hunted with it a fair amount, and while I certainly like being able to make out more detail in low light, I'd certainly be able to kill a deer with it up until the end of legal shooting time, as well as to see if it was buck or doe.

That said, I've never had a problem with a Simmons or Tasco I have either. I can see just fine well past legal shooting time with either of those as well.

The thing I have more problems with than worrying about last light, is the glare from the sun. As mentioned above, I've had this problem with several scopes I've owned. I've never missed a deer because of it, but I've been in a few spots where had a deer come out in that direction, it would have been extremely hard to get a shot off. The Nikon Prostaff and even the Monarchs I have now, are extremely bad about this. The VX-I isn't great here, but it's no where near as bad as the Monarchs, and I've not had a major problem with it.
Luckily the scope I use on my main hunting rifle is pretty good in this area.


Really the problem I've had with the VX-I's have been them failing to hold zero, and their super inaccurate adjustments. While I'm disappointed in the glass for the price compared to other offerings out there, the glass isn't the reason I don't like the scope.

Eremicus,



I guess you never had an eye test. The doctor covers one eye and then the other while he tests ONE eye at a time. My vision is corrected to 20/15 after he finishes with one eye at a time.

But what does that have to do with the fact that everyone of the folks who do the comparisons with these binoculars and scopes from my porch get the same results? It's called science when we observing things by testing things, repeating things and verifying results.



Please tell us what night blindness has to do with comparing optics by different folks during the day.

I've had lots of eye tests. Never had one that only tested my vision with just one eye. All of mine tested each eye separately, then tested both together. I don't wear corrective lenses.
This post is about low light hunting Ringman. E

If your VX1 won't hold zero, it's faulty. The vast majority of them do.
Any scope, at any price, can go bad or be that way from the factory.
I'm surprised your Nikon Monarch has had problems with flare and glare. I've never seen a quality, fully multicoated scope that had problems with that. E

It looks like you and I had the same kind of test. What's our point?



My responce was about low light testing which is accomplished prior to low light hunting. The test results have taught me to switch to the scope after I find someething whether it is day light or low light if I want to see more detail.

My point is that you see better with two eyes than you do with one.
Even you admit that at the same magnification, a binocular is better than a similar size rifle scope.
Your response has always been that you use rifle scopes that can double the magnification of a binocular, so they are better.
If you have lots of light, which you don't have during many twilight situations, that can work. But, the other thing you need for a 16X or higher magnification scope, is a solid rest. Without something as solid as a benchrest, a rifle scope at 16X or more is useless.
I dunno about you, but I don't carry a bench around with me in the field. E

I never thought of using two eyes while hunting. I aways keep one eye closed. That way if I bump into a banch or twig only one eye is damaged.



It doesn't make any difference about how good a binocular is compared to a scope set on the same magnification when you have a scope that will go to at least twice the power of the bino. I have proven in low light more magnification is ALWAYS better until the light is gone.



Did I ever tell you I am twenty-five years old and am a Navy seal and have been since I was seventeen. Not only that I am six feet tall and 240 pounds. I am so bad I carry a concrete bench rest around where ever I hunt.

You should see my back pack. In there you will find fifty pounds of sand bags to lay on the concrete bench rest on which to rest my rifle mounted spotting scope. There is a complete reloading setup so if I miss a deer I can switch to a differnt primer and powder to solve the problem.

Not only that I have the ability to judge distance without using a range finder. I purchased one many years ago just to show off. I don't really need it since I can judge distance with one eye closed to within two yards clear out to 800 yards. After that I open both eyes and can extend the yardage to about 1500 yards within one yard.

A good friend of mine, though cheap, probably would have paid full retail for either of those scopes last year. He saw an 8-point buck with his naked eye just before dawn, but when he tried to find it in his POS Simmons scope, he couldn't find the reticle. He could see the outline of the buck in his scope but no reticle, so, to his credit, he didn't try to guess where his reticle was and take a shot.

If all I ever had was my 1978 vintage Vari-X II 3-9, I doubt the quality of optics--or the scope in general--would ever cause me to miss a critter.

Don't get me wrong, when I bought my first Vari-X III, I could see a bit better on lower magnification than the Vari-X II's, but in the end......it doesn't make much difference when it comes to hunting "effectivness".

In my opinion, the VX-I's were one of the biggest bang for the buck in rifle scopes, at the same price, the VX-1's are most likely even a better buy.

In the past 6 months I've purchased a VX-3 in 2.5-8 and a VX-I in 2-7. I still can't say that the 2.5-8 is a $160+ better than the 2-7.........


Casey

I really like the old M8's.
Preferebly fixed 3x through 24x models.
I used to run old steel tube 4x Weavers.
They keep me from overestimating my skill.....

Nope. Biggest buck I ever saw came out at dusk years ago. Binoculars confirmed it was a shooter and the old leupold did the trick. And it was a B&C net.
However, now we hunt hogs after dark in moonlight with our deer rifles in TX and wish I had the best scope available. Especially one with an illuminated dot in the crosshairs. Tough to see the crosshairs on the black hogs except on the brightest nights.

jcc

Absolutely, when hog hunting other scopes or features are a definate plus. Like a full auto AR