Swavorskie vs Night Force NSX

[Michael Eichele]

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I own 2 Swarovski binos the 10x42 EL's and the 15x56 SLC's you could not convince me that they are not the best bino's made they also make a top notch spotting scope, but for some reason there rifle scopes leave a lot to be desired.
the Night Force is awesome but a Leupold 6.5x20 LR or 8.5x25 LR is in the same league for half the money. IMO


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Couldnt have said it any better. Except I dont own a pair of 15x56's but do use them on occasion.

 

[uncleB]

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A couple years ago one of my friends talked me in to dialing in 2 of his father's rifles they both had Swavorskie eeerrr Swarovski scopes. after spending time with them doing load developement and shooting at different distances I found that neither scope tracked true going from 100yds to 1000yds and back and the reticles (not sure of there proper designation ) SUCK.
I own 2 Swarovski binos the 10x42 EL's and the 15x56 SLC's you could not convince me that they are not the best bino's made they also make a top notch spotting scope, but for some reason there rifle scopes leave a lot to be desired.
the Night Force is awesome but a Leupold 6.5x20 LR or 8.5x25 LR is in the same league for half the money. IMO
UB

[/ QUOTE ]
Itried to stay away from this but couldn't.
Iron Workers question was what is better for varmints a 5.5x22 NXS Night force or a 6x24 Swarovski.
I tried to relate my experience that with all the wonderful products that Swarovski makes Binoculars,Spotting scopes,probably the best rangefinder on the market, hell they even make world class glass doll's. with all that there rifle scopes miss the mark for the U.S. and Long Range Shooter market (the glass is great but the reticles and the mechanic's are a debacle).
I stated that Nightforce was AWESOME (I said nothing derogatory) I stated that Leupold was in the same LEAGUE.
I did not say it was equal to or better than. some people acted as if I ran over the family cat.
It seems to me that Nightforce owners are so blinded by myopia they can barely see through the scope they so cherish.
Iron Worker needed a scope for varmint's (vague), if it is to be a bench type rifle then a Nightforce would be an AWESOME choice, if it is to be a walking varminter then a Leupold LR would be my choice because of the weight, if money is no object then the Nightforce is AWESOME, if he has a stock factory rifle he might not want to spend 3 times the price of the rifle on a scope.
My point is that yes Nightforce is AWESOME but there are other choices in the same league (swarovski not being one of them) saying that Nightforce is the only scope for all situations only proves the myopia.
feel much better now.
UB

 

[bailey1474]

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some people acted as if I ran over the family cat.

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It wouldn't upset me if you shot the family cat. Just leave the dog alone /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif.

 

[Iron Worker]

Uncle B My rifle is a Semi custom Rem 700 6x284. Hart BBL accurized jewell trigger the whole 9 yds. Purpose hopefully shooting off a bench at varmints,and maybe in prone postion shooting distant coyote's.I've been looking hard at IOR 6x24x50MM with the 35 mm tube. Source say its glass rates with USO,even S&B /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif .Some say a little better then NXS all for $300 bucks less.Had a Leupold 8.5x25x50MM it was ok,before that had a Burris Black diamond 8x32x50MM it was fuzzy didn't like that at all . So now I want some thing really good, but under $1,500 bucks. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Chrismadrid]

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Source say its glass rates with USO,even S&B /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[/ QUOTE ]This I'd have to doubt a little - As good as Zeiss - yes, because basically it is.

 

[Iron Worker]

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Source say its glass rates with USO,even S&B /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[/ QUOTE ]This I'd have to doubt a little - As good as Zeiss - yes, because basically it is.

[/ QUOTE ]
What do you mean?

 

[Chrismadrid]

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[ QUOTE ]
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Source say its glass rates with USO,even S&B /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[/ QUOTE ]This I'd have to doubt a little - As good as Zeiss - yes, because basically it is.

[/ QUOTE ]
What do you mean?

[/ QUOTE ]Cribbed from SWFA as ior's site is down.

<u>Today, I.O.R. - as the last original optical factory of Eastern Europe - to continue their legendary existence, remains a serious and reliable supplier of optical components and assemblies for other famous European companies like: Leica, Schnider, Hensoldt, Pentacon, Fog-Gorlitz, Carl Zeiss GMBH, at the same time continuing their long time collaboration with Jaener GlassWerk GMBH from Jena - Germany.</u>

Optical coatings ARE ZEISS T3. Glass is from SCHOTT.

 

[Guest]

Swarovski glass is great glass. Basically, it is difficult not to get great glass; the difference is the proprietary coatings that the manufacturers use.

The main difference between scopes and most of the expense is in its internal build and labor.

I have not owned a Swarovski since the mid eighties; however I can represent Night Force, Schmidt Bender, HAKO and Hensholdt from my experiences.

All of the above mentioned scopes have incredible, Vault Solid, First Tier internal builds with the exception of the Chinese built Hako's. Hako did build extremely durable scopes with excellent glass at one time; and in my opinion if you have one that has "Japan" engraved on the tube, it does rate with the ones mentioned above. It is the internal build, the quality of the internal components utilized, the quality of the assembler and the quality control that makes all of the difference in the scopes performance and longevity.

 

[BarryOConnor]

I can speak with the experience of using both scopes. I had a Swarovski 6x24x50 (top of the line model) that I paid $1800.00 for 4 years ago. Shortly after that I had a new gun built with a NIGHTFORCE NSX mounted on it. AND, shortly after that it was time to GO for the Swarovski. It was replaced with a NSX 8x32x56. Swarovski does Not have nearly the optical quality as the NSX (IMO). AGAIN, I had the SWAROVSKI and sold it at a loss!!

 

[threethreeeight]

Hi gentleman
I have both scopes in question.
the Swarovski with ultra fine reticle,I have owned 12 or so years and cannot fault it.I fitted it to my Blaser T2 338LM rig and took Himalayan Tahr out to 1600metres,with no problems,I then put an NXS NPR1 on it and although the opportunity hasn't arisen to shoot at that range again,it is more than capable,
The Swarovski went on my 25-06 hunting rifle and has taken many more animals.however I am finding the horizontal reticle difficult to see on dusk,back it goes on to the 338 and I shot a red stag at 1,122 metres on friday afternoon last week.
I took another stag on our farm with the 25-06 on the spotlight eating winter cow feed on saturday at 445metres with the NXS.
Basically I can't fault either scope for their intended use,BUT,would buy another NXS,because they are way cheaper than the Swaro.
regards.
I use a pair of Leica BRF 10x42 binos and have a Swarovski ATS 65 spotter.

 

[preacherman]

Swaros on the binos and spotting scopes... NF on the rifle scopes...

 

[rundmm1]

with the cost of the new nightforce f1's or so and the cost of the swaro's, why is no one talking about the zeiss diavari. You can buy one of the 56mm objective lens zeiss's for just a very small amount more then either of these. The nightforce with zero stop being even more expensive then the zeiss and the swaro right on it's heals for what is essentially a lesser scope then the zeiss. The zeiss's in the diavari line are basically the same thing as the hensoldt scopes that the German military uses but are just branded for the US instead of oversea's. I just checked the cost on one of the 6x24x56 diavari and it was 1900 delivered. That is around 300 less then the zero stop nightforce and 100 or so more than the swaro. The nightforce can be had for 1500-1600 for one without zero stop but the zeiss with z plex can be had for 1679.00 if you look in the right places. I do not think that you can get better glass or internals then the zeiss. You will have to give up some long range shooting but you could also just get a 20 moa base and be good out to 1k yards with a 308.

 

[Optik]

I agree with most of what you are saying,but Zeiss Diavari and Hensoldt are not the same thing. Not even "basically".

 

[rundmm1]

actually the glass and coatings are exactly the same. there are some differences with the 2 when you start talking about unreal ruggedness. the hensoldt is made to military specs and costs somewhere's between 500 to 1k more than comparable zeiss. I am pretty sure the tubes are the same on most of them except for a few of the hensoldt's which would employ the 34mm tube and then there is the 6x24x72 diavari which also has the 34mm tube. even with the increase in tube size, hensoldt did not give much more in the way of moa adjustments. my point is that if your life is on the line and the diff in a couple of % points in light transmission and dazzling optics is not that important because what you need is something that will not fail regardless then go with a nightforce and be done with it. if on the other hand, you play war games and you are going to use your scope for said purposes and not be targeted yourself then you can get a scope that is in, my opinion, better than both of the ones that are mentioned for less/less. most of the people that I have spoken with have told me that the internals and mechanics on the zeiss are as good as the nightforce but they just do not do the same job of advertising as nightforce. the diff being that some do not want to trade off 100 moa of adjustment on their scope for one that has around 60 moa. easily rectified by putting on an 20 moa base. in reality the chance that most of us are going to be taking meaningful shots at anything past 1k yards is slim. In those same scenarios, either and all of the scopes in question can take a 308 to past 1200 yards or so with the right bullet combinations. with higher power rifles, much farther. the nightforce, because of its diff in adjustments able to go much farther than that. I do not know what the adjustment range is on the swaro's. the nightforce does have alot more choices that you can decide from like mil/mil and the list goes on. also if you want a taylor made scope for exactly what you need, you can look up uso also. they will make something for you exactly how you spec it out. they do run a little more with all the options but you can get something that is exactly what you want to build. I have never had the priv of using one but hear that they are great also.