Nikon prostaff vs Leupold vx2

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Last night about 530pm I took a ride past the hunt club and noticed 3 deer in the corn field next door. I had a Nikon prostaff 2-7-33 sitting in the passenger seat and the deer were maybe 150yards away and all I could tell was the buck was wide and tall I would guess 150'' but couldn't get a clear picture. Tonight I go shoot and take my Marlin 1895 that's wearing a Leupold Vx2 2-7-33 and the deer came back out again at the same distance. It was around 5-520 eastern time so the daylight is fading fast! I was able to see the bucks eyes, throat patch, points, brown tines, etc like he was 10ft away! I was trying to get him to lift his head so I whistled really loud and he took off to about 400yards so playing around with an empty rifle and the scope I leveled it on a table and could still see him as clear as if he was 100yards away!

I always snubbed at higher end scopes because we only get 5 days for deer gun here in Ohio so I always purchased Prostaffs cause I couldn't justify $300 for one weeks use! I got a super deal on this VX2 for about $150 so I had to jump on it and I'm glad I did! I have to say from now on my rifles will wear at minimum a VX2!
 
ohihunter2014 said:
Last night about 530pm I took a ride past the hunt club and noticed 3 deer in the corn field next door. I had a Nikon prostaff 2-7-33 sitting in the passenger seat and the deer were maybe 150yards away and all I could tell was the buck was wide and tall I would guess 150'' but couldn't get a clear picture. Tonight I go shoot and take my Marlin 1895 that's wearing a Leupold Vx2 2-7-33 and the deer came back out again at the same distance. It was around 5-520 eastern time so the daylight is fading fast! I was able to see the bucks eyes, throat patch, points, brown tines, etc like he was 10ft away! I was trying to get him to lift his head so I whistled really loud and he took off to about 400yards so playing around with an empty rifle and the scope I leveled it on a table and could still see him as clear as if he was 100yards away!

I always snubbed at higher end scopes because we only get 5 days for deer gun here in Ohio so I always purchased Prostaffs cause I couldn't justify $300 for one weeks use! I got a super deal on this VX2 for about $150 so I had to jump on it and I'm glad I did! I have to say from now on my rifles will wear at minimum a VX2!
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I've got an old vxII on my deer rifle (probably mid 80s far as I can tell) and I agree, they are expensive for a reason. Just for fun I'll compare it to a 3-9 power barska and the barska is cloudy and finicky at full magnification while the Leupold is clear and has a relatively wide angle that you can view it through. Scope came on a used gun and I'll be buying another for sure.
 
and when 30 years from now your grandson drops it or some thing breaks inside it or heaven forbid it fogges up in a heavy raid, leupold will repair or replace it free of charge. don,t believe it? I had a 60+ year old leupold scope that finely went bad and it was replaced with a new FX11 4x scope free of charge.
 
eastbank said:
and when 30 years from now your grandson drops it or some thing breaks inside it or heaven forbid it fogges up in a heavy raid, leupold will repair or replace it free of charge. don,t believe it? I had a 60+ year old leupold scope that finely went bad and it was replaced with a new FX11 4x scope free of charge.
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Nikon will to.
 
if you think that, then please tell me what other scope maker today that will replace one of their scopes that is 60 years old that went bad for what ever reason, no matter how many owners it had and with no warrenty card sent in. the crickets will be deafing.
 
if that's so, I think they would have fixed a Nikon spotting scope bought in 2013, but they would not.
 
eastbank said:
if that's so, I think they would have fixed a Nikon spotting scope bought in 2013, but they would not.
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I believe they went to the no fault warranty about 2-3yrs ago. I returned one that didn't work to the store because Nikon said too. The store wasn't happy and made me sign some waiver thingy basically saying if i purchased another scope and brought it back id be red flagged or something.
 
Leupold’s warranty stood alone for many years. Then along came Vortex with essentially the same warranty. Nikon and Burris followed suit within the past couple of years. In my opinion they almost had to.

I’ve never been impressed with ProStaff glass. In the same price range I believe the Fullfield II to be much better. And even though I’m not a fanboy of Vortex scopes I’ll take a Diamondback any day over a ProStaff too.

I have VX-R and VX-3. I cannot remember a single instance in my life where either scope wouldn’t have got the job done. When I got my baby boy(see Avatar, he’s 21 now) his 30-06 I got him a VX-2 3-9x40. They are so nice.
 
Untill recently I had never managed to find a leupold I really liked, and the PreMonarch Nikon, Prostaff, and Monarch I used all did really well for me. The last leupy I tried (cause im that guy, just cant stop bashing my head on a wall) was a Mark AR 6-18x40, which is supposedly VX-2 class. It had the same odd color tinging and dullness that id experienced in my other leupolds, It quickly got sold for about what i paid for it ('nother plus to leupys).

bout a month ago I got a VX-Freedom as a replacement for an old, OLD, VX-ii 2-7x33 that had been on my dads 06. It had a chipped occular lense, and I made the mistake of leaving it looking into the rising sun on my window sill for a little over a week, yellowed out the coatings to the point it was pretty well done. I sent it in, and mounted a Bushy 3200 on dads gun and gave it back.
The VX-Freedom came in and I decided to play with it before giving it back, and ended up keeping it. I dont have any of the issues i experienced with the older Leupys coatings, which makes me quite happy. Im trying to find a newer higher end leupy (cause everything besides the glass on the VX-F feels less refined than any of the other leupys ive used) to try just to see if its anomaly, or if I can buy leupolds.

I really used to like Nikons offerings, and I still think they make a good solid scope for the money. Form wise tho I dislike how chubby they have gotten, and the lower end ones dont seem to be as good optically as the older Prostaff was. My current favorite sub 200 dollar scopes are the burris FF-2s, they are often available for less that 150 bucks on ebay, both used and at times new.
 
LoonWulf said:
the lower end ones dont seem to be as good optically as the older Prostaff was.
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In fairness I’ve never looked through a ProStaff manufactured before circa 2014. In addition I was not enthralled with the glass of the VX line when it was denoted by Roman numerals. When Leupold did the major glass upgrade and changed from Roman numerals to Arabic numerals is when I started liking them.
 
cdb1 said:
n fairness I’ve never looked through a ProStaff manufactured before circa 2014
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Im 90% sure that the older prostaff were just continuations of the "premonarch" line, just made in the philippines. Besides being beat up my 2000 PM nikon, was identical to my first 2008 PS.
They changed them in 2009-10? to the bulkier tubes, and plastic caps. Those didnt seem as "good" optically as my older ones did, but the buckmasters from that era were noticeably better.

Ive had a few VX-IIs, and they were ok scopes, but again that damn yellow/brown tinging got to me. The Mark AR is the only VX-2+ scope Ive owned, and it still had that color tinge, but the optics seemed better. Ive used a fair number of VX-2/3 and my buddy has a Mark 4, they all had that same color issue to some degree, which makes me think that there was/is something about one of the base coatings leupy used that dosent work with my eyes.
The Freedom tho is the only leupy Ive had of the most recent batchs of scopes, so heres hoping :D

Honestly I really LIKE the Bushnells, in the same price range as the lower end leupolds, and mid priced Nikons. I think the 3200 and 4200s were my favorite scopes of the generation, but getting them out here was surprisingly hard, and they cost MSRP when you found them.
I still want to try one of the Engage, since VT likes them. I might actually just buy one off the webs, for this new RA Im messing with....Theres also a Sig t3 4-12x40sf sitting in one of the local shops looking lonely......
 
I have had very good luck and experiences with Luepold scopes. They have been clear and excellent, and the ones I have, track well.

I wonder if one of these broke, what would Luepold replace it with?

hxKUQq8.jpg

Do note, scopes were expensive back in the day. I found the price of a 1955 M70 to be $129. so the scope was at least half the price of the rifle.

CkJDDsY.jpg
 
Olon said:
For how much if you don't mind sharing?
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Nothing, it was covered under warranty.

I might add that unlike new firearms which have a low markup, there is a big markup on new scopes. Cabela’s sells the VX-3i 3.5-10x40 Duplex for $400.00. I know Cabela’s cost is between $150.00 to $200.00. Based on Cabela’s cost I assume Leupold’s cost is $75.00 to $100.00. So IMO when Leupold replaces a scope under warranty, it’s not costing them an arm and a leg and warranty costs are factored into the price Leupold charges their dealers.
 
CDB1 is right, the replaced scope was sent free of charge including return postage.. I do think the cost to make the leupold is more than 1/4 the cost of retail tho.
 
Leupold glass has always been a bit washed out to my eyes but I far prefer it to most others. Nikon glass gives a punchy color palette that I can live with but often at the cost of clarity (edge refinement). Many lower end scopes have me seeing a blue outline, akin to old rear projection televisions that needed to be color aligned. I cannot stand that color fringing.

What I really wish is that Leupold would bring back their excellent filter kit which I foolishly didn’t nab off a trade years ago or replace when I next saw the kit at a local retailer.

I’ve really warmed to Burris in the past few years enough to put them on my buy list for an upcoming re-scope project and I miss the distinction Bushnell used to make with their Baush & Lomb line that IMO wiped the floor with the VX-IIs back when. I know some of the Elite line could do the same, but my brain keeps saying stay away from Bushnell despite my eyes telling me to buy. I’ll definitely need a nice rifle project before I spend that sort of money though. Honesty feature for feature for what I do, I think they’re MY best option in high end glass.
 
Skylerbone said:
Leupold glass has always been a bit washed out to my eyes but I far prefer it to most others. Nikon glass gives a punchy color palette that I can live with but often at the cost of clarity (edge refinement). Many lower end scopes have me seeing a blue outline, akin to old rear projection televisions that needed to be color aligned. I cannot stand that color fringing.

What I really wish is that Leupold would bring back their excellent filter kit which I foolishly didn’t nab off a trade years ago or replace when I next saw the kit at a local retailer.

I’ve really warmed to Burris in the past few years enough to put them on my buy list for an upcoming re-scope project and I miss the distinction Bushnell used to make with their Baush & Lomb line that IMO wiped the floor with the VX-IIs back when. I know some of the Elite line could do the same, but my brain keeps saying stay away from Bushnell despite my eyes telling me to buy. I’ll definitely need a nice rifle project before I spend that sort of money though. Honesty feature for feature for what I do, I think they’re MY best option in high end glass.
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I really like the Burris scopes also.
For the price tho, I've been very happy with all the Bushnell's I've owned.
Of the newer ones, I've got a UltraHD 4.5-14x44, and had a 1.75-5x32, that were both excellent for the 200ish I spent on them. I've had few trophys, and banners, and would say they give more than you pay optically, but are.not as tough as some of the other options.

The newest Elites are on my list to try, but I haven't had the cash to burn.
 
LoonWulf said:
I really like the Burris scopes also.
For the price tho, I've been very happy with all the Bushnell's I've owned.
Of the newer ones, I've got a UltraHD 4.5-14x44, and had a 1.75-5x32, that were both excellent for the 200ish I spent on them. I've had few trophys, and banners, and would say they give more than you pay optically, but are.not as tough as some of the other options.

The newest Elites are on my list to try, but I haven't had the cash to burn.
Click to expand...
optics planet has that 1.5-5x32 for 129 i would like to try one.
 
troy fairweather said:
optics planet has that 1.5-5x32 for 129
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I think that’s the one I’ve laid hands on several times and talked myself out of in favor of a red dot. My dad bought a Banner for a muzzleloader a few years ago and dropped it onto a carpeted floor from 3’ or so resulting in a dented occular bell and a scope with non-functioning windage. That’s what finally scared me off of them.

I know there are better than Leupold but I’ve got a half dozen now, close to a dozen Nikons, and I just can’t see adding nicer glass for the sake of upgrading occasional rifles. In fact I’m pulling a VX-1 soon to give to my mom in exchange for her old Tasco World Class (non-Japanese, Taiwanese manufactured) because she does need a bit more clarity and I’ll probably wind up with another Freedom if I can’t track down a VX-2 in the right magnification. I may just buy her a Freedom, hmmm....going to Cabelas this weekend...
 
Skylerbone said:
I think that’s the one I’ve laid hands on several times and talked myself out of in favor of a red dot. My dad bought a Banner for a muzzleloader a few years ago and dropped it onto a carpeted floor from 3’ or so resulting in a dented occular bell and a scope with non-functioning windage. That’s what finally scared me off of them.

I know there are better than Leupold but I’ve got a half dozen now, close to a dozen Nikons, and I just can’t see adding nicer glass for the sake of upgrading occasional rifles. In fact I’m pulling a VX-1 soon to give to my mom in exchange for her old Tasco World Class (non-Japanese, Taiwanese manufactured) because she does need a bit more clarity and I’ll probably wind up with another Freedom if I can’t track down a VX-2 in the right magnification. I may just buy her a Freedom, hmmm....going to Cabelas this weekend...
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i like red dots but my eyes dont with the astigmatism. a dot with a etched glass will help with it off. i will sell the bsuhnell trs-25 i have because of the blur i see. this shows how subjective are eyes are the nikons look ear to me and are a good price. tho they have bin going up in price lately, my only beef with bushnell are most seam to have poor eye relief that 1.5-5 i here has good eye box and relief.
 
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