Best low light glass?

[Starlite]

I have a Sig Sauer on my 300RUM and it is amazing in low light and clear love it best scope i have found. But they are a little pricey. You might want to check them out.

Yeah, like I said earlier, their glass is great for the price. My BDX Sierra3 3-10x42 is my clearest hunting scope I own. I have it on my Savage overwatch in 270Win. It's my cheapest, lightest and most accurate out of the box setup in my safe. If I had more disposable income I'd have a better quality scope as most large bucks in my region (and others I'd imagine) live on the edges of open areas. Seeing into the black transition zone is a must. This year I'm going to try out the Sig Sauer Tango4 (genII) with a mil hash illuminated reticle mounted to my Savage 10T SR in 6creed.
A few years back I shot a big ole black bear with my 6.5creed Sako Finnlight. That day I realized my Sig Sauer BDX Sierra3 6.5-20x52 was the wrong setup for that area. Typically it arrived stealthy not 15-20 yards away. This was way too much scope. Luckily I quickly found its ear and DRT that fella. IMO Light transmission wasn't great for that horrible situation I put myself in. Got lucky that day. That rifle now has a Nikon coyote special with a BDC Reticle. It stays at 3X power.

 

[Lenny Foffa]

My. Hunting. Buddy has a swavarsky 3x9. That is. Much. Brighter at. 6pm in. West. Virg, . Than my. Leupold. VX3. 2.5. To. 8 ! Noticeable. Difference!! And. I. Am a. Huge. Leupold fan !

 

[5gauss]

I'll start off by admitting the most expensive glass I've had the opportunity to personally test is the Leupopd VX5 HD. Most of my deer rifles wear various versions of the VX3. Comparing these to others based solely on low light for their prices I've not seen any that outperform. However my experience is limited to a few makes and models. How do other brands and models compare to these solely on low light ability?

Leupold...proven over years of use..made in USA...lifetime warranty

 

[bluedog69]

I've had about all of the top names in hunting glass & I personally don't think you can touch a Meopta Meostar R1 for the money! As good or better than my zeiss and Swarovski! Great thing is you can pick one up used for around $700-800 Then spend extra $$$ on other stuff you need for hunting! You can definitely shoot until legal shooting hours are up with a Meopta

I was going to get an R1. Was having trouble finding exactly what I wanted a month or so ago. So I got nervous and jumped on an Meostar R2. 2.5-15X56. Red dot. I just bought a used Swaro off of here. Z8i 2.3-18x56.
We did a test at night the first night we got it. Super humid. Cloudy. Hazy. To make a long story short we kept going back and forth about which one was clearer and brighter. Then about the last 5 minutes of legal shooting time the Swaro stepped up as the winner. But honestly before that last five minutes my boys and I kept wondering if the Meopta was as good or even better.
Now this was on 15 vs 18. Then we went 15 vs 15. Even about 50 minutes after sunset. 20 minutes past legal shooting time on a very crappy weather night. We still could have shot cows and calves on high power at about 125 yards.

Now reason I write all this is to give you a heads up to maybe check out an Meopta Optika if possible. Or a used R1 Meostar.
two months ago Nikons and Luepy's are all I had ever looked through. I am a father of 6 and haven't bought myself anything in the way of guns and scopes in close to 40 years. My kids rifles and scopes took precedence over me. No high end stuff until the last month.
I know this is long winded but you might be surprised what the difference in glass really is. I know myself and my 9 and 12 year old are amazed with the Meopta. On a side note I read that side parallax adjust adds in two extra lenses. So that might be a consideration.

 

[375 JDJ]

Is it a Sierra 6 BDX?

No it is not

 

[wilkup]

Burris Veracitys are on most of my rifles. Can't beat em for the money.

Agreed. I just wish they'd offer the 3-15 or the 4-20 with a 42mm objective. That 50mm just makes the scope sit higher than I prefer. Love everything about my 2-10 with the MAD turret system. In a perfect world, it'd be a 4-20 zoom range though

 

[SEGARE]

The Meostar line has been dc'd and the Optika line is its replacement. The light transmission is virtually identical, the Meostar being ever so slightly better but the Optika line have a better water repelling coating.

Wasn't the early Conquest line rebadged Meopta's?

 

[pony doctor]

I'll start off by admitting the most expensive glass I've had the opportunity to personally test is the Leupopd VX5 HD. Most of my deer rifles wear various versions of the VX3. Comparing these to others based solely on low light for their prices I've not seen any that outperform. However my experience is limited to a few makes and models. How do other brands and models compare to these solely on low light ability?

 

[pony doctor]

I'll start off by admitting the most expensive glass I've had the opportunity to personally test is the Leupopd VX5 HD. Most of my deer rifles wear various versions of the VX3. Comparing these to others based solely on low light for their prices I've not seen any that outperform. However my experience is limited to a few makes and models. How do other brands and models compare to these solely on low light ability?

March Scopes are absolutely the very best scope made; light weight too!

 

[Hugnot]

I have 4 Leupold 6-18X40 1 inch, AO, AR Tac scopes mounted on some of my rodent rifles. Leupold provided Patrol scope type mil elevation dials to replace the elevation dials calibrated for 55 fmj boatail bullets at 3,100 fps. I use these scopes on .204 Ruger, .22-.250 with 75 ELD and 6mm AI with 87 Vmax bullets. The mil dot spacing on these RFP scopes at 18X is 1 mil between dots, or 18 inches at 500 yards and the adjustments are in milliradians with . I milliradian per click I measure the spacing between barbed wire on fences and use my mil dot reticles to verify laser range finder readings after dialing on the correct mil elevation. This avoids continual laser ranging - like is that rodent in front or back of fence slightly more or less than the lasered range. These Leupold scopes have extremely good resolution & brightness to pick up on fence wire at ranges more then 500 yards sometimes in less than good light. Perfectly adequate for my needs considering I paid under $420 each with 2 going for $385 each. Improvements would be a 30mm tube & side focus, increasing price by about $300. I can't see spending more than $1, 500 on some scope that sees limited use to shoot deers and such having limited bag limits.

 

[gsr1578]

The Meostar line has been dc'd and the Optika line is its replacement. The light transmission is virtually identical, the Meostar being ever so slightly better but the Optika line have a better water repelling coating.

Wasn't the early Conquest line rebadged Meopta's?

Meopta supplied the glass for the earlier conquest line and some of the cabela's scopes.

 

[basinman]

Black Hound scopes have really good light transmission and the price is hard to beat. Although the scope is not made in Japan, the glass comes from Japan. Use code "basinman" to get free shipping and and additional 5% off the already low prices.

 

[Orange Dust]

I'm not an expert on optics by a long shot. But this I do know. Being able to see well in low light is very important, simply because that is when game is most active. But, there is a lot more to it than that. I have found out as my eyes age, I have to have more and more expensive optics to see as well in low light, heck any light than I used to. This is why you will see such a huge variety of opinions on the subject. Someone with 30 year old eyes will thing a VX5 or 6 is the bomb, and just as good as top tier German glass, and not think the extra expense is worth it. A seasoned shooter 60 years old will disagree wholeheartedly. Then there are other factors that are deal killers choosing a scope. One of the most important IMO is how tight is the eyebox? This is super important on any rifle that must be put in action quickly. The more forgiving, the faster you will get a shot off. Lens flare, what happens when you look toward the setting sun? Does it wash out, or can you see? Then there is resolution. This is more important to low light hunting than most folks think. Younger eyes talk about a scope being "Clear", resolution is what they are talking about. It is at least as important as light transmission in being able to "See" the animal. I never hunted with top tier optics when my eyes were young, so I have no idea what I missed. I do know today my eyes require a $3k scope with premium German lenses to see at least as well as I could when I was young. This is why on a forum like this it is easy to burn someone, talking them into a "Great" $1000-$2000 scope that they cannot see well through. Everyone's eyes are different, and some folks have more to work with vision wise, to begin with than others. Many of us don't have the luxury of being able to test the different ones available ourselves enough to make an informed decision, and rely on places like this. My best recommendation is buy the best you can afford, they don't wear out. If you are like most of us, and on a budget, I think you can go by this and get by, or at least not get burned if your eyes are normal for your age; If you are 30 or under $1k or less, under 40, $1500 range, under 60 $2k, Over 60 $3k+. As you age you WILL replace the cheaper scopes, or quit shooting those guns, or give them to your kids... Being in a gun club is a great benefit here. Most folks will let you spend some time behind their stuff. The difference is amazing when your eyes are tired or old.

 

[wilkup]

I'm not an expert on optics by a long shot. But this I do know. Being able to see well in low light is very important, simply because that is when game is most active. But, there is a lot more to it than that. I have found out as my eyes age, I have to have more and more expensive optics to see as well in low light, heck any light than I used to. This is why you will see such a huge variety of opinions on the subject. Someone with 30 year old eyes will thing a VX5 or 6 is the bomb, and just as good as top tier German glass, and not think the extra expense is worth it. A seasoned shooter 60 years old will disagree wholeheartedly. Then there are other factors that are deal killers choosing a scope. One of the most important IMO is how tight is the eyebox? This is super important on any rifle that must be put in action quickly. The more forgiving, the faster you will get a shot off. Lens flare, what happens when you look toward the setting sun? Does it wash out, or can you see? Then there is resolution. This is more important to low light hunting than most folks think. Younger eyes talk about a scope being "Clear", resolution is what they are talking about. It is at least as important as light transmission in being able to "See" the animal. I never hunted with top tier optics when my eyes were young, so I have no idea what I missed. I do know today my eyes require a $3k scope with premium German lenses to see at least as well as I could when I was young. This is why on a forum like this it is easy to burn someone, talking them into a "Great" $1000-$2000 scope that they cannot see well through. Everyone's eyes are different, and some folks have more to work with vision wise, to begin with than others. Many of us don't have the luxury of being able to test the different ones available ourselves enough to make an informed decision, and rely on places like this. My best recommendation is buy the best you can afford, they don't wear out. If you are like most of us, and on a budget, I think you can go by this and get by, or at least not get burned if your eyes are normal for your age; If you are 30 or under $1k or less, under 40, $1500 range, under 60 $2k, Over 60 $3k+. As you age you WILL replace the cheaper scopes, or quit shooting those guns, or give them to your kids... Being in a gun club is a great benefit here. Most folks will let you spend some time behind their stuff. The difference is amazing when your eyes are tired or old.
Most well thought out and articulated response I've ever seen to the glass question. Thank you.