Informal low light scope test

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03mossy

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Every winter for some reason or another I seem to always get the bug to move scopes around. I enjoy optics and like testing them out. This year I used some Christmas gift cards and bought a Leupold VXR 3-9x40 with the Firedot duplex to sit on my AR-15 since I had moved the scope from that to my daughters Knight. After playing with that scope a bit on got to thinking maybe this scope belongs on my 30-06 instead. The '06 currently has a Zeiss Conquest 3-9x40 on it. I got to wondering which one would actually be a better scope for my main hunting rifle which is the '06. The AR-15 is pretty much a range toy that I don't hunt with. I decided a dusk time head to head compairison is in order.
Last night I set out to compare the Zeiss and VXR as the sun was setting looking into the woods. Grabbed them both and sat behind the garage. My woods starts about 75 yards behind my house and I have about a 10' lane through the woods where my deer feeder sits exactly 100 yards from my garage. I had just planned on going back and worth between the scopes as it was getting darker looking towards my feeder. As luck would have it the second I started aiming towards the feeder about 15 deer came out of the woods and were running around till dark. Perfect test! It was awesome. They were running around back and forth in and out of the woods, eating, playing, just doing what deer do. I turned the firedot off for a while to keep things even just comparing glass and the boldness of each crosshair. As it started I was leaning ever so slightly towards the Zeiss. But then as it was getting darker and darker I was still able to see details such as eyes, eye lashes, detail of the deer hair with the vxr where the Zeiss the object were starting to blur. Toward the end the VXR was pulling further away. I was actually shocked by this as that 3-9x40 Conquest is pretty much the bar that others scopes try and reach for low light. I've had it for years and its been great . Then when I turned the firedot back on it sealed the deal on the VXR winning. I could have made a shot during legal shooting times with either scope but the combo of the firedot on the VXR and the great glass would have made it easier with the Leupold. Never thought a scope could beat the Zeiss in my price range but I think the VXR did it.
It was so cool how those deer came out right on queue and ran around almost as if they were saying "hey how do we look from here", "how about now", "can you see me if I go back here". It was a fun half hour.
 
Thanks for sharing, good info.

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Sounds like fun and you need to get a shooting bench built this summer :D . I wonder if you can have the older scope reworked or brightened for lack of a better word. I've got 3 older Leupold's that can't hold a candle to the brightness of my new Nikon, so I've been meaning to contact Leupold CS to see if anything can be done.
 
Good report! I don’t own the VXR with Firedot, but have owned MANY MANY Leupold scopes over the years, VX-1, 2, and 3s, I decided to splurge about 8 years or so ago and bought a Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14X44 with Rapid Z800 Reticle, i will say i loved that scope! But in all honesty it wasn’t any better in my opinion than my MANY Leupolds when it came to clarity, I really wanted the Z800 Reticle and hearing of Zeiss all my life, yet never owning 1 was a reason to try it, I used the Zeiss scope on my Rem Mod 700, 7 Rem Mag and shot it out to 800 yards on a regular basis. After moving here to Northern Idaho (Thick Brushy Country) i found that i just didn’t use the Features of the Zeiss, I ended up selling that Rifle Scope/Combo to a local Kid wanting a longer range rifle, I no longer own a Magnum Rifle, all SA calibers, and Leupold Scopes. Hard to beat a Leupold In my opinion.
 
Love your informal test! Much more useful than reading specs on advertisements. I have long believed as much just from comparisons in the stores, but you really don't quite get the range indoors.
 
Schmidt and Bender, Swarovski and the higher end Zeiss are arguably some of the very best for low light performance. I’d look at one of those in that price range.
 
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