Thread: T-Eagle IMAX HD 2-16x44 Review

Summary (TL,DR):

This scope is astonishingly good value for the money. It has excellent build quality, very good IQ, huge range, a useful reticle, good tracking and nice operational feel, it also comes with some nice accessories included. Its flaws include weight, slightly off windage adjustment, slightly off reticle scale.

Introduction

T-eagle is a Chinese brand. I came across it when browsing Aliexpress. It appears that Aliexpress is the only place you can buy this brand of scope outside of China. It is very odd considering China has a complete projectile weapon ban, including moderately powered bb guns.

The IMAX HD 2-16x44 is T-eagle's flagship product. It sports a huge 8x zoom range, it has 1 ED glass at the front. see specs below.


This scope currently retails about $440 NZD inc shipping on Aliexpress. It comes with a cleaning cloth, flip aluma caps front and back, and a sunshade. The front Aluma cap can be mounted on the scope directly or on the sunshade.


Mr Yang, the owner of T-eagle, was very generous. After I told him that I could not find any reviews on the internet he sent me this scope to test. I feel very bad for being so busy over the last few months and not having completed this review earlier. Anyway now it is done, I hope everyone can enjoy this review.


Image Quality

Image quality is probably what you guys are most interested in. So was I. I do not own any top end German or Japanese scope. I own a Bushnell Elite 6500 4.5-30 (Japanese), Leupold VX-3 6.5-20x40 AO EFR (USA), and Leupold VX-2 6-18x40 AO (USA). The VX-3 has the best image quality of the lot. For a long time this VX3 was (and probably still is) the scope of choice for indoor 25 meter sporting rifle shooters and rimfire metallic silhouette shooters.

I compared the IMAX HD against the VX-3. I made a piece of gear that allowed me to mount 3 scopes side by side. I mounted the scopes on this thing and then mounted this thing on a camera tripod. I would switch between them when looking through, I was able to compare them by looking at the same target object/scene. I dialed them to the same magnification from 6.5 to 16.



After looking through them both, and looking at various different scenes and targets, and at different distances, below is my observation:
* In terms of overall image quality, The IMAX HD's is very close to the VX-3.
* in terms of resolution, VX-3 has an edge, but not a big one. But this is expected comparing a $1400 dollar 3x zoom scope with a $440 8x zoom scope.
* IMAX HD's objective lens is only 10% larger than VX-3, but its image is significantly brighter. my estimate is between 50-80% brighter. whereas in theory it should only be about 21% brighter.
* IMAX HD's image appear a little whiter when your eye is not perfectly aligned. This is not brighter, it is more like a slightly "washed out" sort of effect. Whereas most scopes tend to be darker when your eye is not perfectly aligned. It does not really affect use and I may made it sound worse than it actually is. In actual shooting it never bothered me. In fact it is hard to notice when you shoot. It was only apparent when I was comparing the scopes back to back.
* Chromatic Aberration is well controlled, I have looked through both scopes under bright conditions and did not notice much CA.

I also looked through the IMAX HD on its own between 2x-6x, I do not usually use this range for shooting, but I thought it was very clear. At 2x there is a hint of barrel distortion, but it is only noticeable if you look for it. I do not think it would affect actual use. For what its worth, all Mainstream mid-high end camera lenses with this level of zoom would have naked-eye detectable barrel distortions too.

Overall, I find IMAX HD's image quality to be very good. If you take into account its price, it is astonishingly good.

The majority of my shooting is 25 metres free hand shooting (no sling/bipod/any other support). I shoot kneeling and standing mostly. my kneeling target is 50 roundels on a A4 paper. Each roundel is 24mm in diameter, with a 11mm smaller roundel inside. If I hit within the smaller roundel I consider it a good shot. I felt that I got more good shots with the IMAX HD than I did using the VX-3. I cannot quite explain why.

Tracking and Reticle

I wrote a guide on how to do a scope tracking test without having to fire a shot. I obviously followed my own guide. I draw a 15cm x 15 cm square on a cardboard box, then draw a line at every 5cm, I ended up with 3 x 3 smaller squares, each being 5cm wide and tall.



I mounted laser next to the scope, and had them mounted on a camera tripod. I dialed the laser to point to the POA of the scope (centre of the reticle).



Now it is time for some math. The scope is 1/4 MOA per click. 1 MOA is 28mm at 100 metres, which is 7mm at 25 metres. My testing distance is 25 metres, that makes every 4 clicks 7mm. At 25 metres, to move the POA/POI by 49mm, it would take 28 clicks, to move it by 147 mm, it would take 84 clicks, to move it by 150 mm, it would take 86 clicks.

I turned the elevation up by 86 clicks, checked the POA by lighting up the laser, it was bang on at 15cm below the POI (the laser dot). Excellent!

I then turned the windage right by 86 clicks, checked POA again. It should now be at the opposite edge of the big square, being 15cm up and 15 cm to the right... But it was not. Elevation wise it was still accurate at 15cm above (which is a relief), but windage wise it was slightly too far out. I will explain just how far too far further below.

I then turned the elevation down by 86 clicks, checked the POA, it was now level with POI. Excellent!

I then turned the windage left by 86 clicks, check POA, it came back to where it started. So basically a full box test, showing the turrets are repeatable.

I then did a reverse box test - left, down, right, up. The result mirrored the first box test.

The click is audible and can be felt. It is mushier than the VX3, but still very usable. Each revolution is 15 MOA, or 60 clicks. Unfortunately there are no revolution markings to tell you how many full rounds you have turned (I am sure there is a proper term for this but it escapes me). You will have to remember how many revs you turned by heart. Another minor issue is that the marking on the scope is on the side, not in front of you, so it is hard to remember the exact position of the turret in a hurry. I think you could stick a small strip of marked tape in behind the turret to serve as a reference point.

The reticle of this scope is "borrowed" from Hawke, Hawke calls it TMX, it supposed to be mil dot spaced at 10x. Basically each large line is 1 mil, each small line is 0.5 mil. 1 mil is 1 metre at 1000 metres, 1cm at 10 metres, and 2.5cm at 25 metres.



But that math is off on the IMAX HD. At 25 metres, when magnification is turned to the 10x marking on the scope, the reticle marking is simply off, it is neither here nor there. Once magnification is adjusted so that each large line aligns with each 5cm marking, the magnification reading is between 8x and 10x. Each large line would now be 2 mil.



When magnification is set at 16x (the maximum magnification), 5th big line in the reticle lines up with the 15cm line on the target. Basically, 5 lines covers exactly 15 cm. Each line therefore covers 3 cm. Since each mil at 25 metres is 2.5 cm, it means each big line is 1.2 mil at 16x. This means when each line was 2 mil (covering 5cm), the magnification was 9.6x.



This is a little disappointing. But all in all I think it is still suable. Basically rather than using it at 10x and knowing each line is 1mil (which is how most mil dot scopes work), you just need to know that with this cope, at maximum magnification, each line is 1.2 mil, you can still use the reticle to do range estimation.

This brings me to the question of how far off is the windage adjustment. It was off by the amount of a small line at 16x after 86 clicks. At 16x, each small line is 0.6 mil, 0.6 x 2.5cm = 1.5cm, so it is offer by 1.5cm when adjusted for 15cm. About 10% off. Again, it actually is still quite usable because once you know there is an exact 10% extra windage adjustment, you can accurately calculate exactly how many windage clicks you need accordingly.

I want to point out that many scopes, even the super high-end stuff, can suffer from error in adjustments. This scope performed perfectly elevation wise, and has an exact and constant 10% error in windage. Also neither adjustment affects the other which is also a plus. Overall I would say adjustment performance is extremely good if you take into account its price.

Build Quality and Operation

The IMAX HD feels very substantial and sturdy. At 800 grams it is on the heavy side. all moving parts feel well made and just the right amount of tightness. There is no play in the turrets, they pull up first before can be turned. Once pressed down they do not move at all so your adjustment is locked in. Side focus's works very well, the textured metal is very grabby, the distance marking seems to be quite accurate. Definitely more accurate than my VX3. Magnification adjustment ring is also very grabby and just firm enough to feel it is secure.

The two aluma-caps are locked down by magnets, when flipped up they do not go 270 degree flat.

Closing Words

Two things have not been tested- illumination and recoil. I do not have a suitable battery lying around so I have not bothered with the illumination. This feature will have to be explored by someone else. Only 22LR has been used in the testing of this scope as I have not had the time to go out of Auckland where I can shoot a centre fire rifle. Therefore, how well it will hold up under a good recoil remain untested.

However, I have a person lined up wanting to test this scope who shoots a lot of AK and AR15. He will soon report if this scope holds well under 7.62x39.

Personally, I think this scope offers astonishing value for the money. In fact I cannot think of anything that comes even close. Even if it turns out that it cannot stand heavy recoil, I think as it is great even as an all-round rimfire scope.

If anyone wishes to buy one, I can talk to Mr Yang and ask him if he could do a discount. If anyone else would like to have a play this scope just contact me. You can play with it for free, but you must pay a 400 dollar bond and the shipping costs both ways.