How many guys hunt with a lighted reticle? I don’t and here in MI or atleast where I hunt the last 15 minutes of legal shooting during deer season does get a bit dark. In the past it I was watching something or wanted to find something in the scope it just doesn’t seem to be an issue. My Son in Law was bear hunting last week and within legal shooting times he felt that a standard reticle on a black bear would be hard to see.
That’s why I ask how many use a lit reticle?

Hank

For my eyes an illuminated reticle is too bright and IMO is not desirable. I have recently discovered a scope that just has the dot illuminated and it can be turned down very low creating a major enhancement in low light hunting.

I don’t have any. A regular scope let’s me see after legal shooting hours. I can see where it would be helpful on a black animal

NO need where I hunt.

I like them...have a Zeiss with no60 illuminated center dot that can be turned down low... its great for last light hunting especially against dark background.
couple of the vx5hd with firedot are nice as well.
YMMV

I have hunted with illuminated reticle scopes.

red dots.

Digital night vision.

One of my favorite red dots is a solar powered tasco which is on my crossbow. While it can use batteries as a backup, as soon as there is any discernable light at all outside, it's beginning to illuminate.

I’m a fan, but only if they can be turned down in dim light to avoid flare and interference with my vision.

I think it’s important that the reticle be good unlit as well. Not all illumination is daylight bright, and conditions sometimes favor turning it off. As mentioned above, a small illuminated dot is better most of the time as opposed to a large section or the whole dang thing. The Trijicon Accupoint 3-9 is about perfect IMO, heavy side posts that come very close to center, and a small dot in the middle. The new illuminated T-Plex from Tract looks like a good one too in pictures.

I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

I have several scopes with illuminated reticles but I don’t think I’ve ever used one to make a shot. To me, it seems as if they’re all a little too bright even at their lowest setting.

The Leupold Fire Dot is pretty good if not great in the TMOA reticle.

I set mine so it only shows a low burnt orange glow in low light.

Leave it on for months and months at a time as it shuts down with 5 minutes of no movement and light up when ever you pick up the rifle.

I have 2 Jap Weaver Classic Extremes,2-10x50 and 2-10x56,with 4A illuminated dot reticle.They’re done right,with a variable rheostat control that dims to nearly nothing.But the reticle is so thick I rarely even use the illumination,though it’s nice to know it’s there if I need it…

This is my first deer season using illumination.

Have recently added 2 illuminated scopes, 7x56 meopta meostar, and a 2-10x56 trijicon credo hx. Have only taken one deer and it was well before sunset.......I dont turn the battery on till almost dusk..

Each scope has about 8 levels of brightness...

I have 2, a Kahles 1.5-6 on my 375 when hunting DG and just added a Burris FF4 2.5-10 that hasn't been mounted on anything yet. Helps in the thick and nasty stuff to instantly pick up your aiming point.

I like them, and just picked up a couple.

I do by default on just about all my rifles now as ive switched to lpvos on about all of them. Mine just have the center dot illuminated. Good scopes you can turn the brightness down to about nothing. Good point about black furred bears too. Never gave that much thought. Most bears here are some sort of color phase, and the black ones ive shot have all been with iron sites or illuminated reticles. Black furred bear i shot this spring was with a zeiss victory v8. No problem seeing the aiming point against the black fur with that little red dot.

I've used an accupoint 3-9 mil dot for a lot of years on my grab and go deer rifle. It's a decent scope, the single dot illumination show up well on target without any kind of flaring. Now as to whether or not it ever made it possible to cleanly take a shot on game for me I'd not take without a little orange dot, that's a big maybe.

This is great info
I started asking about a scope for him but it makes me think more about usefulness for myself.
I like the thought of being able to really turn it down low
I have really embraced Meopta scopes I will start eyeing them with a lighted ret
Hank

I’ll be using a couple of Zeiss scopes with the illuminated 60 reticle this season. Will be my first experience with illumination. I like that it’s a dot that can be turned down really, really low

In my younger years I always said that seeing the reticle wasn’t the problem. I’m still amazed at some of the way after sunset shots I made with a lowly Leupold 3-9x40 scope. At close to 50 now my eyes need all the help they can get in the dark. Alpha glass, big objectives and illuminated reticles

Several of the scopes I use have them. Some are well designed and some are not. In most cases I try to avoid using them but there are a few times they have been helpful in very low light. I prefer to use a reticle with bold enough bars, centered close enough to the middle of the reticle, that I can bracket the target between them and avoid illumination.

I like lighted reticles, if you don't need it just don't turn it on. I'm starting to rethink their utility though, it seems that conditions where it's helpful are rare for the hunting I do, and I'm not a fan of big heavy scopes on hunting rifles.

I really like a center dot option, as I often hunt a bit past legal deer-season hours for a pig of opportunity. I've used several variants of the VX-R and they can come in handy in those dim light conditions. For deer, there's only been a handful of times I needed illumination during legal hours, and they were in the deep woods on cloudy evenings.

These three were right at dark, behind my house. (VX-R 3-9x40)

on my scopes that i hunt with on my rifles it is an option but seldom used.

Agree. As you get older its a bit harder to pick up fine reticles against certain backgrounds.

I do.

A few weeks ago, I used a Nightforce SHV 3-10x42 with their illuminated Forceplex reticle to shoot a hog in Texas. There was some illumination but I was glad for the glowing red crosshairs.

I started using them after a Roosevelt elk hunt where I got a shot at about 4:30 PM. I had a 4x Leupold with a standard duplex reticle on my 338. I broke the bull's spine and dropped him but was still kicking and I couldn't see the crosshairs well enough to hit him a second time. It's gloomy in the woods during hunting season here, and the fog and rain that are standard for that time of year make it dark well before legal shooting hours are over.

Scope makers overdid the illumination for a while but now we're starting to see some reticles that are much easier to use. I agree 100% with what people have posted about only having a very small part of the reticle that lights up, and being able to turn the illumination down to be very dim.

I've got a Meopta MeoSport 3-15x50 headed this way and will post a report on it once I get some time with it.


Okie John

I've got Swarovski and Leupold illuminated scopes. A huge advantage when hunting Leopard or culling at night.

I've never used them for NA game, however, forest hunting can get pretty dark during shooting hours. So they have a place here.

I like them, as they draw my eye quicker to the intersection of the crosshairs. I currently have a Leupold Firedot and a Trijicon something.

Around here we have not only sex, but also antler, restrictions (3 point minumum and spike only). If it's light enough to count antler tines I probably don't need my lighted reticle.

I love #4 reticles in general but having the dot in the center is my favorite. I am still waiting to use it on black hogs after dark but in testing on other critters in low light ( not shooting them) I find it pretty damn cool and promising.

As has been mentioned many of them are too bright on the lowest setting. To my eyes the best one I've got for the purpose you have to get to the third or fourth position to see it's even on in the daylight. And that's on probably the cheapest scope I own. And Oculus. 4-16x44 with just a center Dot that is illuminated..

I have them on a few guns and find them useful. In PA I hunt some dark woods for deer and we lose sunlight before legal shooting is over. The red dot lets me know exactly where the center of my crosshair is.

I have Mueller, Leupold, and Bushnell. all with adjustable red dot. most of my hunting is night varmit calling or night hog stand sitting. The dot for me has been a great help, no looking for crosshairs. no real need for daytime, but invaluable for night work.

I'm switching over to them on my rifles.

At age 64 i've never needed an illuminted reticle.....except once......and I was "successfully" glad I had it. Won't hunt with out one now.

Alan

I do a lot of night hunting for hogs and predators, I think Ive got six scopes will illuminated reticles and I use them all. Other than that Ive taken a couple shots at dusk and they were helpful.

I have two Burris scopes with a lighted dot on a #4 reticle. I keep it on the minimum setting. It's not visible until the last bit of daylight.

I have and use many, best are just a dot in the center and can be turned down to barely visible to a brighter dot for daytime use. Daytime drive hunts are good with them, and night you just need the barely lit dot.

It's just like anything else in life, if you don't have it you don't see the need and just say I don't need it . . . but if you've ever used them, you know what you're missing and will strive to have them on all your outfits, because THEY JUST PLAIN WORK!!

I started using them years ago when the shooting hours were more liberal.

As duplex reticles get wider and thinner these days, also makers seem to offer only offerings that disappear in heavy cover, I find for me illumination is mandatory for my hunting scopes.

Last 15 min of "legal" time here is Louisiana, my S&B Polar #4 reticle dot is turned on every hunt. In thick timber you could possibly loose the crosshairs, but not that faint dot.

If it is a good illuminated system they work great, even though I hardly ever use it . If not would rather not have it. I have 2 crossbows and unfortunately they came with Hawke scopes that have illumination . I never ever turn on the illumination it is that bad.

I like the Leupold fire dot works great when your eyes are tired.

I own 3 illuminated scopes however I have never used the illumination in any hunting situation. With that being said I doubt I will be buying anymore in the future. However, I do see how it can be useful when hunting black bears.

All scopes on my hunting rifles have illumination.
Some brands execute illumination better than others but all of mine are useable in dim light and total darkness.
I prefer a lit dot only but have others as well.
Hunting late and into the night is not uncommon and a lit reticle while using a conventional scope is a must-have for me.

Well it was my Son In Laws idea
I Love Meopta scopes and all of a sudden there is a Meopta with lit ret in the classifieds

FM flippin magic
Hank

Just at night.

Hunted with an illuminated reticle for the first time last year. Since the state extended hunting hours to 30 minutes before & after sunrise/ sunset. Used a 1-8x Vortex with lighted reticle, and experimented with it in the woods at dusk before the season opened. I like having a glowing reticle when the light starts to fade. As long as I can fine tune the illumination level depending on the ambient light. That scope can be turned up to an unusable level of illumination, IMHO. Just enough illumination to make out the crosshairs is plenty. So far I haven't used the illumination when shooting at game, as I filled an antlerless tag in the middle of the afternoon with the illumination not even on. Maybe this year one of those dawn/dusk opportunities will present itself.

Went shopping for spare batteries last week....

My trijicon credo hx uses a cr2032, pretty common, easy find locally.

The meopta meostar R1 uses cr2354...no crossovers mentioned.......luckily found it at a battery specialty store .......

You can use the CR2032 in the Meopta. They've mentioned this in their literature for years now. Here is a link:

Meopta -- battery

Oh, okay, thx.

I have 4, 1 Trijicon Credo and 3 VX5 HD Luppys. I also have one on my crossbow. I like them. They work great early morning and late evening. Use one on a black Hog right at dusk and you will be hooked.