As an update on the scope choice, I have an update.
I ordered a Zeiss Conquest V6 3-18x50 and Swarovski X5 3.5-18x50 since I was on the fence with both of them. They arrived on Tuesday night and I took them out right away to start comparing. Each afternoon and evening, I would spend time looking through them. On Saturday morning, I went to the range and was there 45 minutes before sunrise. I hung up Champion targets that were a black bear, whitetail deer and standard target that was off white with green and orange. These were hung at 300 yards. Shortly after hanging them up, I started comparing the scopes and could clearly see the black and white lane markers. At this time, when looking through into the trees you could make out branches and trunks clearly at different ranges. About 15 minutes before sunrise the sign that said 200 yards line was able to be read. The sign was 150 yards away and size of a small street sign and was black and white. The targets down range were visible at lower and starting to make out definite shapes and colors. At sunrise of 7 am, the targets were easily visible and when looking into trees the depth, shape and colors were really clear even when 400+ yards away. As luck would have it about 30 minutes after sunrise, I was able to spot some deer with my spotting scope. I picked up the scopes and thought the V6 was a little better. About 45 minutes after sunrise, another range member took a look through them and had the following feed back. His first reaction to the V6 was the Zeiss brings a lot of bright light. He thought the X5 had a little better resolution and this was based on looking into a hole where lots or rounds have struck and it seemed like there was a little more depth. He thought the clicks on both were pretty goodturret were extremely solid as well.
At the end of this all, I took the following into account. X5 seemed to have a little more resolution but was minimal. I did like the more audible sound of the turret clicks on the X5. For the V6, the image quality was excellent along with smaller turrets, shorter length and lighter weight. One other item was the V6 reticle(ZMOA) would lighten with changes in light which made it easier to use vs the X5 which was always black. I thought the X5 was a little brighter but the other individual thought the V6 was brighter. Even when I was looking through both of them, there were instances I thought each one was better than the other.
I wasn't able to put them on guns due to the return policy but Andy did a good review on the V6 as well. At the end of the day, I kept the V6 and the X5 was returned. They are both excellent scopes and I would have been happy with them both. Given that I could pick up a V6 close to $1000 cheaper due to a sale, it sealed the deal. I am going to be mounting the V6 later this week and getting it to the range to get it zeroed.
