About to buy a scope and would love to get some advice on the best low light scope for around $500. Was thinking about a zeiss. But would appreciate some input. Thanks

I would say the Zeiss then Meopta in the price range.

meopta meopro

I have a Minox that beats my Zeiss conquest, to my eyes. The Zeiss is a better scope, overall, but the Minox has good glass. I really feel my Sightron big sky 6x42 is at least as bright, if not brighter. I'd take a truck load of those big sky scopes. I've hunted a Meopta on a borrowed rig, and thought it was as bright as the others. It may have been 'brighter', but after a certain point, it's splitting hairs to me. Any of those will get more light/shooting time than your eyes can probably use.

I thought about a meopta but have no experience with one or do I know anyone who has.

meopta has an excellent german #4 reticle. perfect for lowlight

you can rest easy with the meopta, you'll be hard pressed to find much negative about the meopro line.

Dave

So would you choose meopta over zeiss conquest?

coach11569,

Do you think a Swarovski z5 5-25X52 would be a good low light scope? I do. I have one on my ultralight hunting rifle. Here's the kicker. Both my Bushnell 4200 4-16X40's match it in low light. I purchased both from this website for $275 each.

Therefore I suggest a Bushnell 4200 4-16X40.

You need to try some scopes, and figure out what you prefer/fit your needs/wants. Ringman loves the elites. I think the eye relief/eye box stinks, and I prefer other stuff, that others don't like. They're just like rifles, 5-6 types will be plenty bright, but you'll like some better than others for other reasons.

I have a 3-9x40 conuest and a 4-12x50 meopta meopro and I pefer the meopta. I like the conquest but for low light the meopta with the 4 reticle is just a shade better. I think it is just the reticle that I prefer. either way will get you way will get you well beyond legal times. I also like the 12x power on the meopta better. my 2cents

For pure/maximum low light performance; I have a Swarovski PH8x56 that is UNBELIEVABLE. I have 1" and 30mm Swaro 50mm objectives, Diavari, VX-3's, S&B Summit and 50mm objective Conquest and it beats them all,easily.

My leupold vx-3L 3.5-10x56 will pretty much let u hunt thru the night by moonlight...

Leupold FX-3 6X42 HEAVY DUPLEX for around $300 used on here.
stick the left over $200 back toward some binos.
AMRA

Or...

Look for a MeoPro demo from Doug and if binos are on the menu, get demo Meopro binos as well. I think his demo prices on the Meopro binos are around 3 bills. Scopes are about the same, IIRC. Gets some good glass in action for not a ton of cash.

Just checked...8x42 binos are 299, but no meopro scopes are in as demo's. Bummer.

coach11569, hi- I see you have not posted much so, if I may let me, offer basic premises of many here. I think most will agree with the gist of it - and oh yeah, welcome!!

Traditionally, fixed powered scopes tended to be brighter as (I believe) they had fewer lenses- so less light was lost to reflection off that glass. Fewer parts also added to reliability. A 6x42 (straight 6x magnification with a 42mm objective) was long thought to sort of be 'it' as far as light gathering ability without going to some monstrous huge thing.

Leupold has a current FX 3 model 6x42 that would surely be a yard stick to compare against other scopes. Though some will quickly argue some Euro or personal favorite trumps it while others prefer the slightly smaller 6x36 saying they see no difference, most will agree it is a prototypical benchmark for comparing brightness.


$500 will buy a lot of scope these days and brightness comes with it. We can help find deals too. The brightest scope will have great glass and the best lens coatings- but that alone may not exactly make it the best scope for your purpose.

A few questions:
Are you sold on it being a variable or is a fixed powered (6x ) ok for you? If variable - that is ok, new ones can be brighter than fixed of only a few years ago.
Does the objective size matter? - are you ok with a 50mm or bigger objective or prefer to stick to the more traditional 40 -42mm range? A fair crowd touts 36's.

Are turret types a factor and do you have a reticle preference?

Lastly is weight a factor? It can affect balance and matter if you plan on carrying it around.

What rifle, and action size, is this going on?? That too can matter.

Feel free to PM me- and I imagine anyone else- would be happy to bore you equally well with minutiae of optics. Will warn you this is probably the most contentious of all forums on the fire at times. Sorry if I told you a bunch of what you already know but I have no idea of your experience. Please take it as intended.

Today's 6x42 Leupolds are indeed really bright.

It's not nearly as important as to what brand as to the size of the scope. The bigger the objective, the more magnification you can use. More magnification will allow you to see further.
Things like full multicoating, having a large ocular, super fast euro style focusing, and minimum eye relief also help.
So pick a top brand with a 50-56mm objective which is fully multicoated.
You need to keep in mind that if you have lost much of your night vision, even the best scopes to you won't work much better than the smaller stuff. E

I've a hard time thinking a bushnell beats an S, with a big end, set on 5-6 x..... I"ve yet to see a clear B, at the end of the day or after sunset that would impress me.

But we all know, YMMV.

Low light is a subjective term, but like you, am yet to be impressed by a bushnell. I am not a huge swarovski scope fan either, even though I love their binos.

- and so you are selling it for $500 ? ? ?

As long as you will be working inside 500 all the time and mostly inside 400, The Meopta 1.5-6x42 that I have is about indistinguishable from my Zeiss/Swaro/S&B 1.5-6x42s. The Meopta could be had for about $400 last I looked. Get a First Focal Plane plex reticle and life is good.

Comes with a full lifetime unlimited transferable warranty and their service is great.

rost and eddy- yeah, give me the Swaro but have to agree the 4200 is impressive. I helped a friend get one on sale and added coupon or some discount for less that 2 bills. Crazy deal. Heck at $275 I can't think anything beating it. Really nice clicks too. I am seeing them for mid-$400's most places now and at that price prefer reticle choices and weight of Leupold and took a VX3. I wouldn't have had I found that same deal- but have to say the VX3 has surpassed my expectations.

Yes, I forgot the $500 budget; it would probably take $750 to get it away from me.

A meopro just got added to the samplelist from swfa today...

After ridiculous amounts of research, I've concluded that the meopta meopro 3-9x42 BDC does what I want for a price I'm willing to pay for.

u wont regret it

I can't help myself; I know what I'm going to suggest is a little more than you want to spend, but my 6-24x72 Hensoldt is without any doubt the best passive NV scope money can buy.

I don't know if it's the best, but I've got a Zeiss 6x42 Diatal with a #4 reticle that is darn impressive in low light. You can occasionally find them used, and if you get the right one, can have the ASV+ turrets put on it too and add a bit to it's flexibility.



John

Cool...I haven't hit SampleList yet today, but I will.

The other avenue the OP could take is wait for a Cabela's coupon, or better yet, if he knows someone who works there, wait for a Friends/Family invite. The Cabela's Euro scopes are rebranded Meopro's, and the F/F discount on Cabela's branded stuff is the highest of anything they sell. That would bring in a real nice scope at a real nice price. Just kicking ideas out there.

Best low light scope I have used was an Old 4x56 redfield Illuminator. A close second was a 8x56 IOR with a #7 retictle

It came down between that exact one and a VX3 with BDC for me. No wrong choice between them. My older 6x42 Meopta Artemis is still rockin'.

My 4-12x52 Kahles Helia is a really bright scope.

You wont beat meopta for the price.

This is what you are looking for, it is not as good as Zeiss or Swarovski, it is Zeiss Diavari and for $500.00...


https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...ue/Re_Zeiss_Diavari_C_3_9x36#Post8485684

I will say Biebs is as good as they come too. Another one and I am not sure it is in the budget or not would be the Zeiss Duralyt. I saw a spec somewhere that they where optimized for 600 nm vs. 500-550 which as many have noted give it a slight hue in full light but theoretically would be better in low light. I can't verify as I don't have one but I will say my 38mm Conquest hung with the 50 mm LR VX3 and 56mm LR VXL well past 7:30 in the winter which is about two hours past dark here. I do believe it is subjective to your eye though. I also didn't use a chart it was just a first pass test looking at branches/ pine needles at the tree line at about 95 yards. The 50mm could make out the branches but not clearly more of a blur to me. The 56 VXL and 38 mm Zeiss could make out the edges of the branches and some of the needles. There was sight ambient light from a house 5-600 yards away and it seems to not get as dark here as I remember it getting up north so maybe it is a bit biased.

I also have the pair of Helias I bought from Biebs but haven't tried them. I will say the 3.5-10x50 I had from CDNN was by far the nicest optically I have tried but I don't own any of the true high end Hensoldt, Victory , etc. and to be honest am probably not good enough to tell the difference.

You got that straight. Now that the new R2's are out that will help their short eye relief rep that used to plague them.

i myself am interested in the 6x42fixed meopro with #4.

Leupold VX-R 4x12-50 with #4 type cross hair is very nice.
It's my night time hog hunting scope.

I think Doctor had an 8x50 or something I eye balled once but never tried. Something like this or the Swarovski is great but really fills a niche role in my mind.

I don't know what the best low light scope is but I'm on the same quest, and leaning towards the S&B 8x56. Can't like the size but it will be a dedicated food plot, low light rig. From what I'm reading it reigns king of low light.

Surely it is a niche scope but looking back at the AL bucks I've killed, all have been after sunset and most all have been in situations where I was pushing the abilities of the scope. I have missed several potential kills due to scope limitations. I get all worked up about size, weight, elevation turret, zero stops, windage hold offs, etc. and ignore my main usage of the scope; a short walk to a fixed stand in low light. About to fix that.

I'm thinking a 270 with 110 TTSX's or a 280 with 120 BT's and a 2.5" point blank range of 300 - 320 yards with a Hubble will serve nicely. A 257 Wby would stretch the PBR even further but don't know if its worth it.

Yes, I'm going red neck. But hey, I am one.

Take it from a OLD Redneck from Alabama that is why I re done
all my Deer rifles and optics to account for hunting here in
bama and my night blindness.
My main deer rifles now are a Weatherby Mark V S.S. Outfitter
in 270 WBY Mag. with a factory 130 gr. @3450 fps.
It has a Leupold FX-3 6x42 Heavy Duplex on it now to stay.
Now deciding what to put on my back up WBY ultra light weight
5 3/4 lbs 30-06.
AMRA

I had no issues this year taking deer 40 minutes after sunset using a zeiss conquest 4.5-14x44 z800 reticle. I think the reticle is a bit busy for that use though and am upgrading to a 50mm objective and different reticle possibly an illuminated reticle. I am tempted to buy a Meopta 3-12x56 with the illuminated dot.

Switched to a 257 bee this year and took a few deer with it already. Only issue is being blinded by the muzzle flash flame at oh dark thirty.

I am pretty impressed(low light) with my weaver superslam scope.Natchezz is closeing some of them out for $299.Heck of a deal IMHO.

I usually don't reply to these...as per most of what I have to say is not real valuable or important and just my opinion. But I have recently been evaluating different scopes at dusk. These are the scopes I looked thru at 6:00 pm in eastern standard time.

Nitrex tr2 2.5-10X50 ebx (super slam, I believe)
leupold VX III 3.5-10X50 B&C reticle
Vortex viper HS 2.5-10X44 Plex
Zeiss duralyt 2-8X42 #6

Now granted there were some obvious price differences in these. I looked at all of the above at that time frame in open fields not woods and no snow on the ground. I did this just messing around three different nights.

It was more than obvious the zeiss was much lighter than all the rest. Real obvious. The other three there was not really much of a difference regarding low light. I was extremely impressed with the zeiss, but of course it was double in price of the most except the VX III which was close in price but still less.

Just what I found in my eyes and I am certainly no expert.

I have the new Zeiss Duralyt 2-8x42 and as megaVinn says it is exceptionally bright. It was like night and day (pun intended) against my Leupold. That being said, I will probably. Sell it before I ever mount it; I purchased it to go on a mountain rifle and I think the 30mm tube is just too large for such a trim rifle. I am thinking of getting a trijicon one inch scope instead, just have not decided yet.

It was cold, overcast, dark and gloomy yesterday at the range, and it got worse as we continued to shoot toward sunset. Even had 3 deer cross the butts that we counted coup on.

We didn't have any scopes known for real low light performance ; mostly just standard hunting scopes. Letting barrels cool I just started panning the brush and wood line with about all of them out to 200-250 yards.

Under those lighting conditions, my pal and I both commented what we were both thinking...."These things really suck! A deer against that wood line would be pretty hard to pick out!"

I won't mention the type scopes because people will just get pissed and who wants to listen...?

The clear winner, though, was a Zeiss 4X Conquest for brightness, resolution, and contrast.

I just googled "meopta 1.5-6x42". All I came up with where $1100. Am I missing something?

Zeiss is one of the best.

And, you're afraid that you'll only be able to murder an animal at extreme depredation of visible light for a human, therefore you need the extreme technological advantage of low-light capability to make you what, a "man" or a so-called "hunter"?????

Exactly. A deer in the shadows of a thick wood line is hard to detect at noon on clear day. After sunset on an overcast day REALLY tests a scope, and this is the situation I find myself in often.

Never thought I'd find love in a Hubble, and I may not, but for my afternoon hunting in AL it seems to make sense. We'll see.

Never have figured out the malice towards one another at the campfire.

WOW !! Take a deep breath.LOL.

Bob, not sure what it is about Alabama and late evening greenfield hunts but the suckers come out when you think all hope is lost for the day, most of the situations this year the bucks (non shootable) came out minimum 40 minutes after sunset. Where I hunted it was 4:50 pm (End of December) and they(bucks) were coming out around 5:25 to 5:30. Zeiss Conquest worked pretty darn well with a 44MM objective , want to get one with a 50mm objective for the 257.

Funny thing I heard shooting up until 5:45 or so. Sure hope they were not using bubble pack Walmart Bushnells for this.

Took a woods walk yesterday in the middle of the afternoon. 6in of snow on the ground, hanging thick on the brush and trees. Two Deer that didn't know I was there crossed a path in front of me at around 20yards feeding. In seconds they disappeared. Broad daylight, clear as fine glass, brown against white. Gone, unless you made a good sneak and they stopped: In exactly the right place.

Sometimes they just win.

Think I'm going to go with the meopta meapro. Thanks for all of the input.

battue,yes they do ....for me more often than not.

For what its worth.
I think your on the right track.
No one equals the blue light coatings of S&B.
Always wanted to try a 8x56.
There available with two different tube diameters...1 inch and 30mm.No advantage one over the other from a Usability standpoint.
I think the 30mm looks better as the transition from 56mm to inch looks kinda dumb to me.Plus the 30mm will allow you to use a lower ring height.
If you want push things.
Get a lighted reticle version.
I'd be curious to hear your opinion after you use it.


dave

Take a deep breath, exhale halfway, hold, then let fly - with your spear! No scope needed...

No, you're not. That's shelf price on the Meostar R1 in that power range.

The trick is finding the oddball demo or sale price that cuts that price down a ton.

I've seen other power range Meostars go at the 4-bill range, but not the 1.5-6....yet.

I believe CLNY as the 1.5-6 for 850 currently? Somewhere in that price range.

If Meopta comes out with the new R2 scopes, hope Alex Roy has one or more to look at when the Dixie Deer Classic rolls around.

I am hoping they have a booth at the Harrisburg PA show that is coming up, as I'd love to check them out. I can't recall if they've had a presence there in the past. Zeiss and Swaro both do, I know I've been to their booths and checked out their offerings.

Euro Optic, being in PA, may run a booth, though. I'll have to look and see. Just depends on (a) if they're there, and (b) if they have and R2's to show.

EDIT: Just checked-- both Meopta and Euro Optic will be at the show. Hopefully Meopta will have some R2's to fondle.