New Leupold 1x14mm Tactical Prismatic riflescope

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

This thing looks pretty cool:

http://www.swfa.com/c-939-leupold-tactical-prismatic-riflescope.aspx

http://www.swfa.com/pc-8578-939-leupold-1x14-tactical-prismatic-30mm-riflescope.aspx

With the etched reticle, you can take or leave batteries. Anyone have more info, plan on getting one, or know what the circle-dot reticle looks like? If the reticle is etched but the batteries off, do you still get the full circle-dot, or only the dot, I wonder?

The fast target acquisition and the accuracy of a non-magnifying red dot sight, with a glass-etched reticle you can use with or without included illumination module, all in a compact body that is virtually indestructible. This is no ordinary riflescope. Leupold's groundbreaking new 1x14 mm Tactical Prismatic is so simple (and accurate) to use: just place the cent of the circle dot sight on your target and squeeze the trigger. You never have to change your focus from the target to the sight, so you can get "on" faster with greater accuracy. And unlike red dot sights that become useless once their batteries die, the Leupold 1x14mm Tactical Prismatic's glass-etched reticle is not battery dependent: the reticle is always visible so you are always ready for action. And with the thickest main tube of any Leupold ever built, this is Leupold's most durable scope yet, able to withstand even more impact force than the legendary Leupold Mark 4 M3A, with no shift in the point of aim. Offers a wide field of view and 1/2 MOA click adjustments for windage and elevation. Mount system includes three spacers, giving the user the choice of four mounting heights.

This would be the bomb for my Saiga-12 and a couple other longguns too. I'm not too keen on battery reliance.

Looks like you can only attach one ring to it, however. I would prefer space for 2 rings, for more stability.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Eh... personally, I don't see the appeal. You lose the unlimited eye relief/no cheekweld/no practical parallax of a red dot; but you don't gain any magnification - and all for $500.

About the only improvement over irons is that all sighting is on the same plane. The only improvement over an Aimpoint is that if the electronics dies, it still works; but between a 10k-80k hour battery life, using your Aimpoint as a giant ghost ring and back-up irons I do not know that having a 1x etched reticle is all that big of an edge.

 

[Wes Janson]

Are you positive that it's set to a specific eye relief, and is not unlimited a la Aimpoint? If it's a true 1x, it shouldn't matter how far back your eye sits.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Are you positive that it's set to a specific eye relief, and is not unlimited a la Aimpoint?

The linked website lists the eye relief for the scope as 3-5" Which is nice eye relief for a scope; but not so great for a 1x reflex sight.

 

[Don't Tread On Me]

For $500 you're not too far off from a Trijicon Accupoint 1.25-4x and that doesn't need batteries and even if you do not have a light source, still has tritium and even if you do not have a light source and the image is washing out, you still have those two vertical parallel (almost german style) hairs which will get you on target.

Now they offer it with a #4 reticle now. 1.25x is pretty good for close in work (since you lose FOV with the Leupold anyway) . You also have the 4x option making it very versatile.

There's also the Reflex. Does not require batteries. For $500 you're almost in Tripower territory. There you get fiber optic for day or whenever there is light, tritium for night and even battery like an Aimpoint for when you are in low-light area looking out to a well lit area (avoid washout) like if you are under trees and canopy or in a building or a tent looking out to a field.

The Prismatic is a solution in search of a problem. Leupold is a great company and makes a lot of great products, but this and their CQ/T are just not that great for the money, especially when you compare it to other tactical type optics in that price range or the features offered by other companies (like Trijicon).

There's Aimpoint, which in my opinion is the best reddot out there for the money. Trijicon is good too, but you can get a C3 or ML2 which will serve you very well for less money. The only downside is it is 100% dependent on the battery. But as Barth says, with 10,000 (ML2) to 50,000/hr (C3 or ML3) battery life it really isn't an issue. The 50K battery life is based on brightness setting #7. That's years of being on 24/7 on a setting that is useful day/night or dusk/dawn.

 

[Zak Smith]

To paraphrased Bartholomew Roberts, why in the heck would I choose this instead of an Aimpoint M2/M3/M4 ?

-z