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At 9-Hole Reviews, we’ve paid a lot of money for burnt sand. We’re talking, of course, about high-power optics above and beyond the normal LPVO category. We’re talking about optics that are purpose-built for more precision-oriented use, specifically with large-frame precision firearms. The question is, when you're choosing glass for your rifle, why would you choose to buy one optic at seven times the cost of another? Is the difference between the two significant enough to merit the jump in price?
Any one of us has asked this question upon stepping into the world of long-range shooting. A lot of it comes down to what feature sets are important to you as a user. Someone who is just taking their rifle out on a hunt with a 150 to 200-yard max distance needs a wildly different set of optic features than someone trying to push a large-frame gas gun over 1,000 yards and quickly snapping between 300, 700, and 1,200-yard targets. The feature sets needed to optimize for that second scenario carry significant costs with them.
The old timers who taught us to shoot would say you should always pay twice as much for your optic as you did for your rifle. As time has progressed, optic technology has improved, and manufacturers are offering better-quality optics for less money. The money you would spend today on an optic suitable for an entry-level rifle may not be the same as you would have spent 15 years ago. It’s probably more accurate these days to say you should, or at least ‘could,' spend as much on your optic as you did on your rifle.
But, again, it all comes down to what features you need. Starting out, we don’t all know exactly what feature sets we want. For long range, the turret has to dial, yes, we know that much. But when it comes to mils vs MOA, reticle type, zoom range, optic weight, or tube diameter, we didn’t have all the answers to these questions in the beginning. We had to go through a learning process using entry-level optics. There's a huge value to the entry-level optics.
Entry/Budget Tier
Side note: there is what we think of as an even lower category below this entry tier—it’s the department store brand optic, airsoft or airgun optics, etc. —but we won't consider those in this discussion. The entry-level optics category is often referred to as the “budget” tier. We consider it to be the $250 to $399 cost range based on what products are available today. More optics in this tier are probably sold than in any other. The Vortex Optics Strike Eagle Rifle Scope might fall within this category, as would some of the scopes by Arken Optics. The Primary Arms SLx might also fall into this tier, though at the top end of it, or even into the lower-mid tier. The basic feature sets that you're getting out of this tier are usually a dialable turret, serviceable glass, and durability such that in nice lighting conditions, you're going to be able to see your targets. Sometimes, it's a fixed power optic, like the SFWA Super Sniper back in the day, because the fixed optic could be produced at a lower price point. The reticle may be a very basic reticle with basic mil dots or a basic crosshair style. It's bare bones when you break it down. Sometimes you may even lose one or two of those features, as with the Super Sniper, which is not zoomable. It’s a fixed power scope, but still very usable, very durable, and very rugged.
You can see out of such optics decently, especially on a 100-yard target range, but as you progress in your shooting journey, there may be things that make you realize, "Oh... now I want THIS.” One of the tough things about the budget entry-level optic is that they don't scale particularly well—meaning you can't go, "Oh, and now I'm gonna do this with it,” because it can’t flex into other roles particularly well.
Mid/Upper-Mid Tier
The next level up is the mid-tier and upper-mid-tier optics. It’s above the entry optic, but not quite to the premium level. This is like the Primary Arms GLx or the Vortex Vipers. You might even be able to touch some of the EOTech line. They could probably be considered the top end of this tier. There are some things in the EOTech line or even the Trijicon line that we think sit in this tier. It’s easy to become disillusioned by Instagram posts as people criticize some of the optics in this glass tier, but they are supremely usable. In fact, we would go as far as saying the feature set you find in this tier, for the price you're paying, is disproportionately high. It's probably the best value. When looking at it purely from a value proposition, this is generally where we find the maximum level of value-to-feature set. You generally have glass that, if you didn't know any better and weren't looking right next to an especially high-end piece of glass, would look adequate, and you'd be able to see out to 1,000+ yards with it with a decent level of definition, especially if you’re shooting on a golf course-style range. You'll have decent tracking and decent turrets, and you'll probably have parallax adjustment that's useful and usable. You'll usually have measurements within the crosshair that aren't half bad. The GLx that Josh has been using for a long time is a 4-16x model. This particular one is discontinued, though newer generations of it are available. We still have it and use it because this is one of our “mule optics.” We use this when we don't have a rifle with the optics outfitted yet. We put it onto QD mounts, and it just travels between new rifles so we can see what the rifle is capable of before we spend the extra money to buy an appropriate optic. You can get a lot of mileage out of these as non-dedicated optics even if you prefer to ultimately shoot more premium optics.
On another side note, as a different kind of example of how cost is not always the best gauge for value, Henry enjoys shooting collectible optics, rare and vintage optics, etc. Some of those optics can fall into the higher tiers in terms of cost yet offer fewer functions and feature sets than optics in this mid-tier range.
Entry Premium
From a value proposition of price-to-feature set, you're still doing pretty well when you upgrade to the first level of premium tier optics. Some examples might include the Vortex Optics Razor HD LHT or Swarovski Z5i. The best example of this that we have in our collection is the Primary Arms PLx, and we think of it as "budget premium." It’s the most accessible premium optic. It is by Light Optical Works manufacturers, so it's good Japanese glass with very robust turrets, and you feel it in the weight. It’s like buying the most affordable house in a really nice neighborhood. Henry particularly likes this one on a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and has grown very fond of the ACSS reticle, though some might find the ACSS controversial. It’s not the only reticle type he shoots with, but in this instance, he matched a very specific reticle to a specific rifle. Reticles vary between different manufacturers. Leupold reticles are different from Nightforce reticles and very different from Tangent and Euro reticles. It’s an important consideration when choosing not only an optic tier but an optic brand as well.
Mid/High-Premium
Stepping up a bit into the mid-premium tier, some examples might be the Leupold Mark 5, and the Nighforce NX8. In this bucket, there are some clarity improvements in glass between this tier and the prior tier. Again, if you didn't know any better, you would probably be perfectly happy in the prior tier. But now you're starting to hit the $2,000 price point on your optic. The Razor Gen 3 and Nightforce ATACR come in on the high end of this tier and beyond, in some cases retailing up in the $3,000 range depending on magnification level. At this tier, value starts to drop in relation to the skyrocketing cost, because you’re only gaining small amounts of additional benefits like marginally better glass clarity or maybe slightly more robust turrets, but you’re paying way more for it. It scales poorly as you keep going up. However, there are still benefits that come with the cost. Josh puts the ATACR on his guns because, as he puts it, when he looks through one of the other optics and then looks through the ATACR, it makes him smile and say, “Aaah.”
In the high-premium echelon, if we compare the Nightforce ATACR (which can span mid and high-premium tiers) to glass from Schmidt & Bender or Kahles, at that point, we’re only nitpicking about the hue of the glass. Henry prefers the warmer-hued Euro glass, while Josh prefers the colder hue of the ATACR. With the clarity and light transmission of optics at this level, we gain a half hour at dusk and dawn on top of lower-tiered optics, extending the amount of time we can be working and be on glass before things are too dark. That may not be a thing that is vitally important for someone shooting at 1:00 PM on a golf course-style range, but for law enforcement, a military sniper, or even if you’re an avid hunter, that difference may be relevant enough to justify the higher price point.
Extreme Premium
Meanwhile, among the collection of optics, there is also a Tangent Theta scope. For one Tangent Theta, we could have purchased 12 or 13 of the SLx. Why would someone spring for the Tangent Theta? Looking through an ATACR, it seems like as much as one could hope for in an optic, and the Tangent Theta costs another grand or two over it. And although it’s quite difficult to describe, when using it side by side, it just seems ‘easier’ on the eye. We’re not straining as much, we’re able to see just a little bit better, etc. It even cuts through the mirage in a way the other optics cannot while still allowing us to see what the mirage is doing; meaning that at the height of the day when the hot Texas fields have intense mirage, most optics turn into magnifiers for that mirage, but the Tangent and ZCOs that we’ve used appear to just look through it. You can still see it, but the targets and terrain become more visible.
Summary
We are by no means optics experts, but we’ve had a chance to try something from every tier in every category on the scale we’re discussing here. As we stated earlier, if you imagine a theoretical cost-to-value chart, the value line starts to plane out or rise in smaller and smaller increments even as the cost steadily continues into higher numbers. At that point, you see marginal value growth for massive budget increases.
There's a huge spectrum here that exists. We can put an entry-tier SLx optic onto some of these rifles and shoot out to 1,000 with it just fine. We can look through it for a day, and halfway through the day, it becomes normal, and we’re fine with it. If we slide over and look through a Schmidt and Bender or an ATACR, then we will have the, "Oh yeah” moment. But otherwise, it doesn't feel like we’re missing anything or lacking it when using a GLx. The edges aren't as clear. There's a little bit of fisheye. There are some color distortions. But if you are not staring right through another one of the premium optics next to it, it ‘can’ be hard to tell that difference.
So do not feel like you must spend tons of money on optics, but you should spend some money on optics if you're serious about it. Most importantly, identify the feature sets you need and find which tier hits those feature sets for you. The Leupold Mark 5, for example, is not the most expensive, nor is it the best available optic on the market, but it has sprung to the top of 'most used' optics by competitors in Precision Rifle Series, according to the Precision Rifle Blog, likely an indication that the competitors are perceiving this as the optimal value based on the features they need the most, as opposed to simply seeking out the most expensive optic they can find.
Until next time, we'll see you guys on the range.
--9-Hole Reviews
