Thread: Leupold Scopes are NOT worth the money....IMO

Originally Posted by Hermitage

How do you find your Minox @nor-west? The Minox ZL3 I owned for about 3 months was really poor quality (Philippines made) and there are mixed reviews of the Minox ZA5 assembled in Germany, and ZX5 line assembled in USA.

Great!, schott glass, good mechanicals, lightweight, a European Leupold really, I dont care if others don't like them more for me. Superslams have been bullet proof, others may have had other experiences, I can only comment on what I've had.

Leupold may be higher priced now days but I have never had one fail and cost me a animal or a trip.

I had not one,not two but three Weavers in a row fog up on me and ruin hunts....replaced not repaired each time.

Enough for me to never own another.

I have and do still own a number of leupys....I have sent one back for a bit of fluff inside it but I have never had one end a hunt.
Low light performance is also very good, I haven't compared with everything side by side in low light but I haven't compared with anything that is better and in most cases even close.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Leupold may be higher priced now days but I have never had one fail and cost me a animal or a trip.

I had not one,not two but three Weavers in a row fog up on me and ruin hunts....replaced not repaired each time.

Enough for me to never own another.

I have and do still own a number of leupys....I have sent one back for a bit of fluff inside it but I have never had one end a hunt.
Low light performance is also very good, I haven't compared with everything side by side in low light but I haven't compared with anything that is better and in most cases even close.

+1 ..... Both my scoped rifles wear vx's.
A 5hd and a 6hd and I am more than happy with mine. Sure you might pay a little more but I don't mind for the peace of mind I get knowing that the chances of an issue are small and if there does happen to be a problem then it will be sorted no questions asked.
And I can tell you the colour of the shoes of the mountain bikers on the top of the hill behind my house around 2 odd kays away with the vx6 , so no complaint there either.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Leupold may be higher priced now days but I have never had one fail and cost me a animal or a trip.

I had not one,not two but three Weavers in a row fog up on me and ruin hunts....replaced not repaired each time.

Enough for me to never own another.

I have and do still own a number of leupys....I have sent one back for a bit of fluff inside it but I have never had one end a hunt.
Low light performance is also very good, I haven't compared with everything side by side in low light but I haven't compared with anything that is better and in most cases even close.

I’ve also had a great run with leupolds and have owned a few different models: everything from an old vari x iic right up to a vx6. They all performed faultlessly, to the point that all my rifles (apart from one) currently wear leupolds. I’ve had a couple of weavers; the classic rimfire version I owned had shit glass compared to other rimfire scopes at the same price point; and the 4.5-14 grand slam was too long and bulky with glass that wasn’t as good as a vx2.

It’s my belief that ALL new scopes are overpriced, which is why I generally buy mint 2nd hand optics at about a 40% discount off the RRP.

my only experience with loopys is at the bottom end of the range...... i compared a vx1 3-9x40 to a redfield revolution 3-9x40 in the shop essentially the same scope rom the same factory .....the redfield image was alot crisper , go figure. ... obviously leupold new this too because they have discontinued the redfield line to concentrate on the higher priced loopys.
oh and once i bought a loopy M8 at a garage sale for $20 and onsold it for $260....... cant complain about that!

Have struggled focusing Leupolds as my age has increased, don't have the same problem with Burris Signature Series, so have stuck with them. Sometimes wonder if the warranty service is a problem more who the local agent is than the manufacturer.

Leupold is excellent. Never let me down in comparison with other scopes ive had. That said, just bought an NX8 due to the over all package ticking all the boxes. If not that it would have been another leupy.

Customer service, ruggedness and features are top notch.

years ago in a discussion with Richard from Wilhelms arms and optics, this came up. I was looking at a scope for a project and he had a burris 2-10 signature that i ended up with. That is still a great piece of glass to look through but never been on a rifle in anger. Quite a large objective lens too but it is an AO type
His comment back then in the mid/late 90's was that leupold was generally a good scope and their QC very good. They tested every single scope and as such this was why their failure rate was so low on the hill so to speak. This is very likely what kiwis liked so much about them. Reliability
The Burris I was looking at and ultimately purchased was a little different. That particular range (maybe it was all Burris scopes) only had maybe 1 in 5 tested. Instead they put some of that budget into the glass. As such they were a slightly better scope although with slightly more risk of failure.
I know at 4x it is still way nicer to look through than the Loopy M8 4x from the early 90s i have on the 243. its only a couple of years newer
remember back then there wasn't the dearth of all these other scope manufacurers about.
There was the euro stuff like Kahles that you got when you saved up the shekels, along with the odd Swarovski etc and the odd Pecar thrown in.
Come back down the line you had Leupold, Burris, Bushnell, some Weaver, Tasco and Nikko Stirling.
You would probably find that Leupold had a bigger range marketed in NZ too

Originally Posted by csmiffy

years ago in a discussion with Richard from Wilhelms arms and optics, this came up. I was looking at a scope for a project and he had a burris 2-10 signature that i ended up with. That is still a great piece of glass to look through but never been on a rifle in anger. Quite a large objective lens too but it is an AO type
His comment back then in the mid/late 90's was that leupold was generally a good scope and their QC very good. They tested every single scope and as such this was why their failure rate was so low on the hill so to speak. This is very likely what kiwis liked so much about them. Reliability
The Burris I was looking at and ultimately purchased was a little different. That particular range (maybe it was all Burris scopes) only had maybe 1 in 5 tested. Instead they put some of that budget into the glass. As such they were a slightly better scope although with slightly more risk of failure.
I know at 4x it is still way nicer to look through than the Loopy M8 4x from the early 90s i have on the 243. its only a couple of years newer
remember back then there wasn't the dearth of all these other scope manufacurers about.
There was the euro stuff like Kahles that you got when you saved up the shekels, along with the odd Swarovski etc and the odd Pecar thrown in.
Come back down the line you had Leupold, Burris, Bushnell, some Weaver, Tasco and Nikko Stirling.
You would probably find that Leupold had a bigger range marketed in NZ too

yes but not all m8 4x are equal...I had 3 and all were different...the oldest/longest ,with largest rear eyebox was by far and away the best......eye relief is primo...field of view is primo....target aquiring is shit hot....it now sitting atop my poohseventy and will probably never leave it again....the 3x9x50mm vx11 in the 223 is good scope and never moves zero....the old nikko stirling gold crown beat it for light gathering but those scopes were freaks of nature....had so much good features but did fog if abused...unfortunately Im guilty of scope abuse so nearly all my rifle wear loopys...the two that arent are wearing an early burris and early kahales both were gifted to me....

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

yes but not all m8 4x are equal...I had 3 and all were different...the oldest/longest ,with largest rear eyebox was by far and away the best......eye relief is primo...field of view is primo....target aquiring is shit hot....it now sitting atop my poohseventy and will probably never leave it again....the 3x9x50mm vx11 in the 223 is good scope and never moves zero....the old nikko stirling gold crown beat it for light gathering but those scopes were freaks of nature....had so much good features but did fog if abused...unfortunately Im guilty of scope abuse so nearly all my rifle wear loopys...the two that arent are wearing an early burris and early kahales both were gifted to me....

@Micky Duck I reckon Leupold should have you on the books and pay you a commission for every Leupold they sell.

You would have to be the number 1 Leupold 'positive promotion man' on this whole forum

Used to only have Leupolds,now only 1 little 1-4 compact left I have slowly switched to low power Kahles and a swaro,no regrets.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

yes but not all m8 4x are equal...I had 3 and all were different...the oldest/longest ,with largest rear eyebox was by far and away the best......eye relief is primo...field of view is primo....target aquiring is shit hot....it now sitting atop my poohseventy and will probably never leave it again....the 3x9x50mm vx11 in the 223 is good scope and never moves zero....the old nikko stirling gold crown beat it for light gathering but those scopes were freaks of nature....had so much good features but did fog if abused...unfortunately Im guilty of scope abuse so nearly all my rifle wear loopys...the two that arent are wearing an early burris and early kahales both were gifted to me....

Mine is a bit of a short one. Even on the m70 243 lightweight it could come back a little for proper eye relief
Got a 1.5x5 loopy on the 416 and it is a great little scope. Mind you dont have anything comparable to judge it against

Part of it is also simplicity of choice. With Leupold you know what you're getting - reliable, solid, and reasonable quality at the cost of increased price. There's good brand recognition/trust, and their prevalence means you can get them used relatively easily.

There are certainly better scopes out there, but they aren't easily identified and require a lot of reading and searching to identify.

Originally Posted by canross

Part of it is also simplicity of choice. With Leupold you know what you're getting - reliable, solid, and reasonable quality at the cost of increased price. There's good brand recognition/trust, and their prevalence means you can get them used relatively easily.

There are certainly better scopes out there, but they aren't easily identified and require a lot of reading and searching to identify.

Given the way they support their product, buying a used Leupold does not carry the same risk as buying another brand used

I always remember this video.



Some googling around this problem reveals quite a big and persistent problem with Leupold scope tracking on forums in the US. Loads and loads of posts about it from a few years ago.

I don’t know if they’ve sorted it out.

But I’d put a fiver on few shooters testing their tracking as comprehensively as this, and therefore not knowing whether they have a problem or not.