Lost in the land of budget LVPOs

[Hohn]

Until I got my PST with it's amazingly large FOV on the bottom end, I never knew what I was missing.

So if I were shopping for a LPVO, I'd sure as heck be looking at that 1x FOV as it's a huge part of the speed and utlity of a LPVO for anything close. Kahles has excellent FOV, as does the 1-6 vortex razor. But those aren't "Budget LPVO" optics.

I'd be keenly interested in getting close as I could on a budget, though.

FOV and illumination are critical on the bottom end of a LPVO. The idea in my mind is to get as close to RDS utility as you can while still preserving the variable aspect ability to reach a ways.

 

[Ggreen]

Forgive my messy shop. It's been my home office and my kids indoor romper room throughout the lockdown.

An ffp lpvo at 1x is pretty amazing. It's hard to justify a red dot anymore other than weight saving option. Good lpvo's generally have a donut around the crosshair so that it turns into a usuable dot at 1x. Both eyes open fov isn't an issue.

You still have eye box issues at 1x, so a red dot still beats anything else for off axis shooting.

 

[gregkl]

I have a Leupold VX-R HOG 1.25-4 with the Firedot Pigplex reticle. I don't like "busy" reticles. I like it.

 

[Goodcat]

agreed on the PX4i. I downgraded from a Razor Gen 2 1-6 to a Strike Eagle 1-6. Was such a huge difference I sold it. Jumped up just a bit to px4i and I’d says the glass is at least comparable to the Gen 2 razor at half the cost. I’d rather shoot 4 power with good glass than a 16 power with mediocre glass all day.

I know you said 1-6 or 8 but the steiner p4xi is a great optic. The Bushnell elite tactical smrs 1-6.5 is also a good optic sometimes you can find them around $700. If your not in a hurry last year I got a Vortex Razor 1-6 gen2e refurbished for $900, but you have to wait for them to pop up for sale and they go fast.

Nothing wrong with the 1-6 pst though just giving you more options.

 

[Hookeye]

Guy at the range has the PX4i...........yeah I want one.

 

[gregkl]

Guy at the range has the PX4i...........yeah I want one.

That is a nice looking scope. Little rich for my blood, but if I had the coin and wasn't already set up, I'd consider one for sure.

 

[mmpsteve]

I have a Leupold VX-R HOG 1.25-4 with the Firedot Pigplex reticle. I don't like "busy" reticles. I like it.

When my Vortex PST was too heavy for my project, I went with the Leupold VX-R 1.25-4x Patrol. Little different reticle than the Pigplex. Outstanding little scopes. I liked the VX-R so much that I now have 2 of the Patrol, 1 Pigplex, two 2-7x, and two 3-9x in the VX-R line. I believe the VX-R's are being discontinued, and Sportsman's Warehouse or someone was having a sale on the whole line, so I just kept buying them. Wife about had a heart attack when my CC statement arrived, but truth is, I'd like to have a few more of them.

.

 

[gregkl]

When my Vortex PST was too heavy for my project, I went with the Leupold VX-R 1.25-4x Patrol. Little different reticle than the Pigplex. Outstanding little scopes. I liked the VX-R so much that I now have 2 of the Patrol, 1 Pigplex, two 2-7x, and two 3-9x in the VX-R line. I believe the VX-R's are being discontinued, and Sportsman's Warehouse or someone was having a sale on the whole line, so I just kept buying them. Wife about had a heart attack when my CC statement arrived, but truth is, I'd like to have a few more of them.

.

lol. Good story. I have a VX-R 3-9 on my other AR that is built for longer distance.

It has the German reticle.

 

[Gabriel]

lol. Good story. I have a VX-R 3-9 on my other AR that is built for longer distance.

It has the German reticle.

I have a Leupold VX-3 1.5-5 with the German #4 and like it quite a bit.

 

[gregkl]

I have a Leupold VX-3 1.5-5 with the German #4 and like it quite a bit.

 

[johntheplinker]

When my Vortex PST was too heavy for my project, I went with the Leupold VX-R 1.25-4x Patrol. Little different reticle than the Pigplex. Outstanding little scopes. I liked the VX-R so much that I now have 2 of the Patrol, 1 Pigplex, two 2-7x, and two 3-9x in the VX-R line. I believe the VX-R's are being discontinued, and Sportsman's Warehouse or someone was having a sale on the whole line, so I just kept buying them. Wife about had a heart attack when my CC statement arrived, but truth is, I'd like to have a few more of them.

.

I've got a couple of the VX-Rs also, in 1.25-4x and 2-7x. The 2-7x is on a AR and was my favorite yote rig until I got my Wraith.

 

[Maximinus Thrax]

Great optic for the money. Are there better? Sure are, S&B short dot anyone? Always trade offs, like guns, like guitars, like cars.

But for my contingency triad, I went Swampfox. They are chunky monkeys but for $250, going to be a con or two. I accept this and Charlie Mike and all that.

I do not understand the goofy drive for more magnification. I want a shorter tube and lighter weight. However, I understand that SF is responding to the market.

For the price they look to be hard to beat. I'm hoping they perform better than my wife's gen1 strike eagle. There aren't many things I like about it. I don't have the need for crazy amounts of magnification. 4x or 6x is plenty. Budget 8x and 10x are too heavy for anything except a range bench queen and have too short of an eye box for my liking.

Next challenge is to find a local swampfox dealer. Gun shows in my area leave a lot to be desired so I've given up on them. Lots of chinesium, cheap mil-sim gear, and tacticool junk...even for optics.

 

[Dean C.]

This is unfortunate , last month there were some crazy sales on the Trijicon 1-8 Accupower for around $1000~ I have one and absolutely love it. Get the red reticle it is much brighter and easier to see than the green version.

 

[T-DOGG]

This is unfortunate , last month there were some crazy sales on the Trijicon 1-8 Accupower for around $1000~ I have one and absolutely love it. Get the red reticle it is much brighter and easier to see than the green version.

Midway USA was blowing them out for $869 for awhile. I didn't need one, but man was I tempted anyways..

 

[jayhawk]

So hard to find anything in stock these days. I went ahead and put a Primary Arms 1-6 slx FFP on back order (July eta theoretically). That ACSS FFP reticle just seems very well thought out to me and the reticle seems like the biggest practical differentiator for many of these </=$500 optics. I'm hoping at minimum this will get me by and keep me happy for awhile...until one of those Trijicon blowouts comes around again, that would be hard not to jump on.

 

[Dean C.]

Midway USA was blowing them out for $869 for awhile. I didn't need one, but man was I tempted anyways..

For that price you really can't beat it honestly. I don't really have anything negative at all to say about mine other than it's a bit heavy.

 

[sheepdog697]

This is unfortunate , last month there were some crazy sales on the Trijicon 1-8 Accupower for around $1000~ I have one and absolutely love it. Get the red reticle it is much brighter and easier to see than the green version.

Do you find the illumination washes out pretty bad on a very sunny day? Mine does it even with fresh batteries. Again it’s probably my only issue with the optic

 

[Dean C.]

Do you find the illumination washes out pretty bad on a very sunny day? Mine does it even with fresh batteries. Again it’s probably my only issue with the optic

With the red reticle I have had no issues at all. Especially when on 1x and the reticle is pretty close to a "doughnut of death"

 

[jayhawk]

Finally finished my first build (minus the trigger guard). Pretty happy with it.

 

[Skullglide]

I am running a 1-4x24 Trijicon AccuPower on my patrol setup. Picked it up for $469 in March. It is the Red spear duplex reticle. I like simple for my reticle.