Leupold VX-3i: why so cheap?

Is it a real Leupold or a Chinese copy?

Where'd you find that price? From what I've seen for the most part for the basic 3-9x40/3.5-10x40 pricing for Leupold goes vx1-$200, vx2-$300, and vx-3i-$400. This is from the major retailers and who often have pretty good prices. Now you can usually get sale price or a 10% off or something to get those prices down some but that is for the most part what I've seen. $240 is a great price for a vx-2 so if you got a vx-3i for that i would be real interested to hear where you got from so I could look into purchasing from them.

Leupold had a big restructure on pricing for the VX3i when they replaced the VX3's a few years ago. They lowered the price point overall. Having used the VX3 4.5-14x50mm for several years as go to hunting scope on several rifles, I called and asked why they dropped the prices. They improved the glass a bit, not much, but notably side by side, but still lowered the price.

Their response was they have been running the VX3 line for a long time, without a significant feature update and without a pricing update - and of course, for a fixed product, price has to go down over time as the line gains age. Since they hadn't done so in several years and since there was a lot of new competitive pressure in the class, they dropped the prices.

I'm not personally complaining.

The VX-3 lineup was huge. With the VX-3i they drastically cut the number of models and also reduced the number of reticles available. As an example the VX-3 1.75-6x42 came with the option of a duplex or a heavy duplex reticle. With the VX-3i the only reticle choice is duplex.

The local Leupold rep and my contact at corporate told me that reducing the number of models and reticles significantly lowered their cost which enabled them to lower pricing.

$240.00 for a NIB VX-3 seems a little suspicious to me too.

cdb1 said:

$240.00 for a NIB VX-3 seems a little suspicious to me too.

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Seem's suspicious to me as well, I paid $435 for mine (same scope you mentioned) at the beginning of the year on sale and I thought that was a good deal. I would check the serial number on the box and scope and check with Leupold to make sure you got an authentic Leupold scope. There are a lot of copies floating around of quality equipment out there these days, and they are getting them to look spot on to the original on the surface, enough to get people to buy them only to find they got screwed when checking with the manufacturer. This has been happening with Aimpoints and EoTechs for the past few years.

I edited this post, I double checked and I paid $435 for mine 6 months ago not $350 I was thinking of something else.

I think Leupold is having to give up resting on their laurels as there is stiff competition out there for their same consumers. I think Vortex's rise in the optics world has put a crimp on their consumer base as many perceive Vortex to be just as good as Leupold and they are usually 10% cheaper or so across the board on their optics of similar qualities of the Leupold.

I'm a Leupold fan as I have 3 of their scopes a VX3, VX3i and a VXR. I think Leupold recognizes that they might have to lower their margins on their scopes to stay competitive, I just hope that they don't lower their standards on materials, construction and quality control. That is always a fear when an established and well loved company gets fearful of an upstart competitor selling just below their price point then the established company comes down to their level across the board. I'm in no way saying that Vortex scopes aren't as good (with my comment on coming down to their level) but if Leupold has to make cuts in quality to get to that price point that is a problem for me.

Competition is almost always a good thing, but there are instances where consumers put such an emphasis on price in competition that the quality then suffers. Its a trap that is an unintended consequence that happens quite often in our capitalistic society.

I've been really pleased with my VX3 and VXR; and the newest addition the VX3i seems to be just as well made as my VX3 but I've only had that one for a few months.

I have three Leupolds also, VX-3, VX-R and VX-2. I think they are great scopes.

Where did you get the scope OP? Leupold is one of those companies that makes their retailers all sell for the same price as a rule. A VX-3i 3.5-10 x40 with Duplex reticle has a MSRP of $519.00 and sells for $399.99 at Cabela's, Camera Land, Scheels, SWFA, Sportsman's Warehouse and Optics Planet.

Be careful.
I don't know about scopes but I used to deal in high end camera lenses and there are a bunch of cheap Chinese knockoffs out there that look like the real deal but aren't and they are garbage.

They don't make a 3.5X10X40. They do make a 3.5-10X40 and it should be priced at about $400. Leupolds pricing policy prevents anyone from selling new, current production products below MSRP. They can sell refurbs, used scopes, and discontinued models at discounted prices. There are lots of fake counterfeit Leupolds out there. I suspect that you may have one.

https://swfa.com/leupold-3-5-10x40-vx-3i-riflescope.html

Macchina said:

The one I got was brand new of of eBay (I admittedly got a really good bid on this one)

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I strongly suspect what you purchased was not manufactured by Leupold. eBay is overrun with counterfeit products.

In any event seriously inspect that scope when you get it, and if it is counterfeit contact the seller and return it for a 100% refund including shipping if you paid for shipping. If the seller gives you a hard time file a SNAD with eBay. You will get your money back, having suffered only some minor inconvenience.

Macchina said:

The usual price on these is around $400 but Midway had a lot of them on sale for about $100-$150 off

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I saw the same sale as you did, and as you I missed out on it. On occasion Midway offers what they call "one time only" deals and that was one of them. Discounted Leupold scopes are hard to come by. As far as the "too good to be true" discount you found... well, buyer beware.

Congratulations on a great price for a great scope.

At that price you should buy a dozen! BTW, that happens to be my favorite Leupold scope and certainly the best price I've heard about.,.

My apologies. Looks like you scored a great deal. Those don't come around very often.

One thing they did to cheapen the Vx-3 was to remove the ranging scale that was above the magnification scale on the eyepiece. Death by 1000 cuts.

I have purchased two vortex scopes in the last six months. while decent they are not equivalent to luepold or burris quality. I don't see them as a threat to the better established makers. more like a better bushnell or weaver. jmho. dc

The top of the line Vortex products are very good. Their Tactical scopes, though heavy, are right up there with the best of them.

I can recall the time when most all of the Japanese scopes, were basically cheap, junk. A LOT has changed since then. There are some dandy scopes out there for prices most shooters should be able to afford.

Few yrs back a friend started singing the praises of the Sightron III, LR scopes. Swore to me they were a great scope at 1/3 the price of a Nightforce, Leupold Tactical series, etc. At a gun show I found a used Sightron III, 6-24X for a bargain $500 price, so decided to try it. Installed it on a Rem 40X in .308 win. I was amazed how clear it was, how precisely it tracked, adjustments were repeatable, etc. Last year someone had a sale on them and I bought TWO more.

I have a few Leupolds that are certainly older than many of the posters here, bought them in the early 1970's. They are still holding up. Then again I do NOT abuse my gear like others do. But with reasonable care a quality scope SHOULD last a lifetime IMHO.

FN in MT said:

But with reasonable care a quality scope SHOULD last a lifetime IMHO.

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And if it doesn't, Leupold will repair it free. I had a VX-III that I got used. Had to be 30+ years old. Wouldn't zero. They replaced it free with an equivalent (but vastly improved) VX-3

I own several Leupolds, various models including VX3i. Here is another thing they changed. The click adjustment mechanism. I noticed this somewhat mushy system in the Redfields and VX1 six or eight years ago. At that time the click adjustments on the Vari X-3 were more positive and crisp. Even before that they were friction which I really liked. Now as long as you can zero it and it stays zeroed, then it shouldn't matter. But just know that the internals are different from an old VX3/ Vari X III to a VX-3i which is more like a Redfield or VX1.

Now the positive: The VX-3i is optically superior to the older Vari X III or VX3, and mine seems to be GTG.
I think these days if you want Leupolds front line stuff you still need to pay $600+. Id like to feel the adjustments on those.