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Today I&#;m going to show you the best Vortex red dot sight.
In fact:
I&#;ve hand-tested over 10 scopes alone for this review.
The best part?
I&#;ve sorted the scopes by use. So whether you&#;re on a budget or need the best Vortex red dot, you&#;ll find it here.
Let&#;s dive in!
Just quickly, what&#;s the difference between red dot sights and holographic sights? And which is better?
Holographic sights, or holographic optics, use a laser to project a reticle onto a glass plate. The dot is then reflected up to your eye. Vortex makes a great holographic sight, the Vortex Razor AMG UH-1.
In red dot sight models, the reticle is projected directly onto the front lens. The lens is coated with a special material that allows it to display a crisp red dot on your target.
Holographic sights may have an advantage over red dot sights in durability and weight, but if you&#;re looking for something lightweight and easy to use, you may want to consider getting the best red dot sight for your needs instead.
A red dot sight is a type of weapon sight that uses a red dot projected onto a crosshair, creating a sighting method in which the operator looks through the scope and aims at an object. Originally developed for use in military applications, they have become popular among hunters and recreational shooters. Many red dot sights can be mounted on pistols or rifles alike to give users quick access to their weapons while preserving accuracy. There are several different types of red dot sights such as holographic and laser sights.
But what do you look for when buying a red dot sight? The first thing you need to consider is price. If you want a red dot to have a lot of magnification, but also have a good field of view, high zoom optics are recommended. In addition these sights may have other features such as illuminated reticle locations and night vision lasers. High-end optics for red dot sights can cost anywhere from $400 to $ or more.
Next to look into is the brightness level of the sight itself. If you don&#;t plan on using it in dim light environments, then a brighter sight will be fine for your needs. However, if you&#;re planning on shooting in dim light sometimes, then low intensity sights are preferred by many people including hunters and shooters alike. The third thing to look for is user-friendly features such as a quick-release mount and an adjustable reticle. And lastly, the type of red dot sight you decide to buy should match your needs. For example, if you want a compact and lightweight red dot sight with a small magnification range, then an auto tracking optic (ATO) may be more suitable for you. On the other hand, if your needs are more specific and require a longer range with higher magnification than you may want to go with an illuminated red dot sight that has different types of reticles such as mil dots or crosshairs.
Regardless of your needs it is best to choose a red dot sight that matches your specific needs and goals. You can go out and try different types of red dot sights with the hopes of finding the perfect one for you, but don&#;t expect to find something perfect. The chances are most people will not be able to find their exact needs in one purchase, and each type of red dot sight will have different capabilities and limitations based on its size and magnification.
The good news is I already did all the research for you and found the best red dot sights made by Vortex. Let&#;s take a look&#;
If you&#;re pressed on time, here&#;s a quick list of the best Vortex red dots:
The Spitfire AR Prism Scope offers all the features of Vortex&#;s best red dot sight on an AR-15 platform. It may not be the Vortex Strike Eagle, but it&#;s the best red dot around. If you shoot AR-15&#;s, this is absolutely the sight you need.
Best Vortex Red Dot for AR-15
Vortex Optics Spitfire 1x Prism Scope - DRT Reticle (MOA), BlackLet&#;s dive into the features!
The AR Prism Scope is constructed from glass lenses with anti-reflective coatings, providing a crystal clear sight picture with 100% field of view.
The design of this sight is also great for people with astigmatism. You won&#;t see anything through the lens that you shouldn&#;t. When working with AR-15&#;s, this is key when you&#;re trying to fire off quick, extremely accurate shots.
Probably one of the cooler features of this sight is the etched DRT (Dual Ring Tactical) MOA reticle. It&#;s perfect for quick and accurate close-range firing.
The prism design on this red dot allows you to see the reticle with or without illumination, which is handy in case the battery dies. However, the reticle does have twelve different intensity levels so you can choose the perfect illumination for the surrounding conditions.
The Vortex Spitfire AR Prism Scope allows for a large eye relief, which is great for shooters who wear glasses or protective eyewear.
Additionally, the eye box is wide enough to provide ample viewing space for shooters.
Like a lot of other Vortex sights and scopes, the Vortex Spitfire AR Prism Scope is shockproof, waterproof, and fog-proof. If you do a lot of shooting competitions, this red dot might have to be your go-to. It&#;s compact, resistant to corrosion, mounts squarely and soundly, and can withstand severe weather conditions.
The bold turrets allow the shooter to make adjustments quickly and accurately. The zero-reset feature allows you to re-zero the rifle without having to re-shoot the target at 100 yards after each adjustment. Combine these two features with the fast-focus eyepiece, you can make quick shots without having to fumble around with your sight.
What&#;s really special about the Vortex Spitfire AR Prism Scope is the 5.56 BDC turret with settings for AR-15s up to 700 yards! This feature can only be found on the Spitfire.
The Spitfire AR Prism is parallax-free with a magnification of 1x. These settings are great for ARs.
The Vortex Spitfire AR Prism Scope comes with a collapsible mount, which can be adjusted for height or can&#;t easily. It allows the shooter to quickly swap between magnified (magnifier) and red dot (1x) optic. It also comes with an integrated 11-slot Picatinny rail for mounting additional accessories like lasers, flashlights, or bipods.
The Vortex Spitfire AR Prism Scope is a great alternative to the ACOG or Aimpoint PRO. It offers an easy-to-use, rugged, and lightweight red dot optic that is widely compatible with most AR platforms.
Furthermore, it provides a reticle that is open enough to accurately hold at all times, which means you won&#;t have to constantly re-zero your rifle. The Vortex Spitfire AR Prism Scope also comes with a high-quality lower 1/3 co-witness mount type.
If the Spitfire is a little too outside of your price range, the SPARC AR and SPARC II are less expensive, comparable alternatives by Vortex. Or, perhaps you want to check out another quality brand, like Sig Sauer Romeo 5.
All in all, the Spitfire AR Prism Scope has earned its place as one of Vortex&#;s best red dot sights.
Best Vortex Red Dot for AR-15
Vortex Optics Spitfire 1x Prism Scope - DRT Reticle (MOA), BlackI can&#;t stress enough how good of a value the Vortex Crossfire red dot is. When you compare the cost to the features you&#;re getting, it really is an unbeatable deal.
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I&#;ve tested countless red dots in my day, and this one definitely gives the most bang for its buck.
It really is perfect for someone who simply needs an affordable option without giving up much in return.
Enough chatter, let&#;s see what makes the Crossfire so great!
The glass is crystal clear. In comparison to other reflex sights, the glass is much better.
It&#;s made from an anti-reflective material that will not wear off over time or damage the sight&#;s reticle clarity in any way.
The reticle is crisp and precise. It&#;s also an illuminated reticle (laser). The size of the dot is 2 MOA. It doesn&#;t have any other types of reticles, such as mil dots or hash marks, etc.
The Crossfire&#;s light source comes from a high-intensity LED bulb. This bulb is very bright and will not be affected by the wind like some other red dot sights with incandescent bulbs. This means you can shoot more accurately out to greater distances than before.
The Crossfire has unlimited eye relief, meaning you can adjust quickly and efficiently to your target.
The Vortex Crossfire Red Dot Sight has been designed for a lifetime of use, with a steel housing and a lens cover that is nearly impossible to scratch.
Its quartz-type battery lasts an entire year before it needs changing, and can be easily replaced without tools. It&#;s made of aluminum and has a very hard-anodized finish that increases its durability and strength.
The max windage and elevation on the Crossfire is 100 MOA.
The knobs are pretty basic and can be a little tough to adjust, but they are completely reliable. This red dot also holds zero extremely well.
The Vortex Crossfire is parallax-free, and it has 1x magnification. This works great for short and long-distance shooting with your rifle or shotgun, and it allows you to quickly focus on the target.
The Crossfire comes with a lower 1/3 co-witness mount, low height mount, and high height mount.
You can mount it on almost any weapon or arrangement of weapons, and still get the desired result.
The Crossfire is a well-rounded, rugged, and reliable red dot sight that can be used in almost any scenario.
The glass is crystal clear, the reticle is crisp and precise, the elevation and windage are well-designed for accuracy.
It has unlimited eye relief, and the battery life lasts an entire year before it needs changing. Best of all, every Vortex product comes with an unconditional, unlimited lifetime warranty, so you can breathe easy knowing they&#;ll take care of you no matter what.
Overall, this red dot sight is definitely worth its price. If you&#;re not on a budget and want something with a tad more umph to it, check out the Crossfire&#;s cousins, the Vortex SPARC and the Vortex Strikefire.
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For those of you specifically shooting Glocks, the Viper is the Vortex optic you want.
Best Red Dot for Glock
Vortex Optics Viper Red Dot Sight - 6 MOA DotOut of the sights I&#;ve tested for my own Glocks, this open has worked the best by far. It&#;s lightweight, durable, and very user-friendly.
Check out the specs here:
The Vortex Viper is a 1x red dot sight. It has a fully multi-coated optical lens surface, which makes the glass crystal clear for your target.
The reticle also has unlimited eye relief and it&#;s an open design (no hash marks).
The dot size is 6 MOA. The illumination level can be adjusted in brightness. The reticle can be set to low or high, depending on your preference. The illumination also indicates when the battery runs low, so you don&#;t accidentally leave it on when you exit your vehicle in the dark. Plus, the bright red dot makes it easy to see in any lighting or weather condition.
The Viper works in both single and dual modes without needing excessive programming for Glock or other pistol calibers.
The Viper has unlimited eye relief, which makes it easy to transition from target to target accurately.
The Viper is made from aluminum, which is extremely lightweight and strong at the same time. I&#;ve taken my Vipers on multiple hunting trips without any issues.
The ArmorTek finish has held up great, and the lens covers are nearly impossible to scratch or damage.
The elevation and windage settings can be easily adjusted.
The knobs are also very durable and will not be affected by the shock or recoil of your weapon.
The Viper has 1x magnification, which is clear enough for you to quickly focus on your target even in low light conditions. The magnification isn&#;t too high either, which is beneficial for both target accuracy and battery life. It also has a parallax-free reticle.
The Vortex Viper comes with a Weaver or Picatinny mount and locking screws that can be used with most small compact handguns, rifles, shotguns, and even bullpups.
It also comes with an AK-style rear sight that can be mounted on almost any weapon or arrangement of weapons as well.
The Vortex Viper is a great choice for your Glock.
It&#;s constructed very well, easy to use, and will last you a long time without any issues. It&#;s perfect for anyone looking for a simple, dependable red dot sight.
Best Red Dot for Glock
Vortex Optics Viper Red Dot Sight - 6 MOA DotThis sight, the Vortex Razor Red Dot, is cream of the crop.
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Vortex Optics Razor Red Dot SightsIf you want the best of the best, and you&#;re willing to pay the price tag for it, the Razor is what you need. Vortex took several of the primo features they&#;ve mastered and carefully crafted them into this design.
It really is a top-notch product. Let&#;s find out why.
The glass is astounding. You get HD clarity without any distortion or loss of focus, so you can always see your target clearly.
The lens area is large and comfortable to look through, with unlimited eye relief for fast and easy target acquisition. It also works great in any lighting condition, including cloudy days or bright sunlight, making it easy to spot your target even when other sights may not be working well.
If you don&#;t have 20/20 vision, this red dot will make you feel like you do. With this sight, the dot is, well, a dot. There&#;s no light spreading, no glares, no flares. The Razor has nine illumination settings for different light conditions, and no matter when you&#;re shooting or where you&#;re looking, your light will always be right on target.
The Razor has unlimited eye relief, much like the other sights we&#;ve looked at here, but what&#;s great about this red dot is the eye box is wide and has a super crisp, defined outline.
This feature, combined with the ultra-clear reticle, makes quick target acquisition a breeze.
Vortex really stacked the Razor with durability features. There are a lot, so let&#;s just list them out:
These are most, if not all, of Vortex&#;s primo durability features all rolled into one package. And for that reason, this sight packs a big punch and can withstand an incredible amount of wear and tear.
Just like the Razor is made from carbon fiber, so is its elevation and windage adjustment knobs.
The hard material provides a firm, precise grip. Plus, they have a cool flip-out detent so you can quickly lock them in place without any fumbling or messing with them.
The Razor is also incredible with parallax and magnification. Much like the other sights we&#;ve looked at here, it is parallax-free and has 1x magnification, which is clear enough for fast target acquisition as well as accuracy with tight groupings at longer distances.
The Razor&#;s mount is Picatinny compatible, so it can mount on multiple platforms with ease. It also has locking screws. The included battery will provide plenty of power for the sight, and if your battery runs low, the red dot will turn off to save you from ever coming up empty when it matters most.
If you want the best of the best in red dots, the Vortex Razor is what you need. It&#;s made from high-quality materials and performs at a high level every time without fail. It&#;s also got all of Vortex&#;s top-notch durability features that will ensure you get many years out of this investment without needing to buy another sight again.
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Vortex Optics Razor Red Dot SightsI hope you enjoyed my Best Vortex Red Dot Sights guide.
Now I want to turn it over to you:
Which Vortex red dot sight will you pick for your firearm? Or perhaps you already have one and would like to share your thoughts.
Either way, let me know by leaving a quick comment down below.
&#;Which is better: Vortex Viper or Vortex Venom?
We&#;ll get right to the point.
If you want a truly premium red dot sight, the Viper is what you need. It&#;s hands-down the best in its class. And if you have a Glock 19, it&#;s a perfect fit. However, if you&#;re looking for something that will perform just as good at a lower price tag, the Venom is the way to go. It doesn&#;t mean that it&#;s not worth your time or your money; in fact, it&#;s got similar construction and performance to the Viper at a much lower price point.
Whether you choose one over the other will depend on what you need in a red dot sight. If you&#;re liking the price tag of the Venom but still aren&#;t sold on Vortex, check out this comparison to the Burris Fastfire 3.
Or, if you&#;ve decided it&#;s a long range scope you need, take a look at the Viper HS 4-16×50. Or, as another alternative, perhaps you even explore another reliable brand, like Leupold.
Who makes a better red dot sight: Vortex or Sightmark?
These are both exceptional red dot manufacturers. They make some of the best products in the industry, with ultra-reliable products that will withstand years of use without failing you. I would easily pick one of these over any other sight for its build quality, durability, and performance. I personally prefer Vortex&#;s Razor over Sightmark&#;s ERS since it is better overall in virtually every category. That being said, I can see why people would choose Sightmark over Vortex Razor, considering it has limited optics that don&#;t compare to Vortex&#;s premium offerings.
Do Vortex red dots have Shake Awake?
Yes, but not on all models. Only the Razor, Viper, and Diamondback DB-R riflescopes come with Shake Awake technology.
Does Vortex make a green dot sight?
Yes, the Spitfire AR Prism Scope is a red and green dot sight. The Vortex SPARC II is a 3 MOA green dot sight as well.
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Let&#;s get this out of the way: $500 is a lot of money to spend on a rifle scope, and for some readers (and optics testers) it stretches the definition of a &#;budget&#; scope. That&#;s a fair perspective, and one that I shared as a beginning hunter who sweated a little to spend $300 for a Leupold VX-3 back in .
But we picked $500 as the cap for our budget rifle scope category for an intentional reason. That tends to be the break point between scopes that have crappy glass, underwhelming reticles, and mushy turrets and those that are more purposefully built for specific shooting situations. Under $500, you don&#;t really know what you&#;re buying. It could be junk, or it could be a lifetime scope that you trade around between favorite rifles because it simply works.
That&#;s what our test is designed to find out: which rifle scopes under $500 are worth your money and which you should avoid.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit cost-effective Vortex Screen.
Because this is ultimately a test of value, we wanted to find out how much performance and reliability could be packed into a rifle scope.
More on that value proposition in a bit. The bulk of our evaluation is no different than the regimen we use for precision scopes that cost on average $2,000. We want to determine how repeatably precise a scope is, how well it guides a projectile, how clearly it allows you to see the target (and the world around it), and how durable it is.
Because rifle scopes are essentially aiming devices, we evaluate them on a different basis than binoculars or spotting scopes, optical instruments that have broader utility. We&#;re interested in the precision of a rifle scope, so our scoring criteria gives more weight to attributes that achieve that goal.
We test optical performance, same as we do spotters and binoculars. But we spend more time on four criteria that we think are the heart of a solid rifle scope. Our &#;interior aiming system&#; considerations are reticle style and utility, illumination, reticle references and visibility. Our &#;exterior aiming system&#; evaluation considers turret positivity and indexing, the scope&#;s zero stop, parallax control, and total internal adjustment range, or how far shooters can stretch the turrets&#; elevation and windage clicks. We also test a range of attributes that we bundle under the heading &#;precision,&#; which include turret tracking, return to zero, the trueness of the scope&#;s magnification, parallax, and field of view. And then we ask testers to rate every scopes&#; &#;shootability,&#; which considers eye relief, the ease of use at various magnifications, and the scope&#;s versatility.
We actually brought in two ringers as the basis for our evaluation. Remember that Leupold VX-3 that I bought over 30 years ago? We used that as the Platonic ideal of a budget rifle scope, along with an old Nikon Monarch that I pulled off a deer rifle. Both bring lots of talent to the show: reliability, decent reticles (the Leupold has a duplex, the Nikon the circle-based BDC), good glass, and adequate controls. We wanted to see how a modern class of budget scopes performs against the OGs of the category, and whether the definition of a &#;budget&#; scope has changed over the past 25 years. Happily, it really hasn&#;t. The best modern scopes compared very favorably with these relative ancients, but test team members noted that they would happily strap either the Leupold or Nikon to just about any of their rifles.
Back to our evaluation. Our criteria has been refined over the nearly 20 years of our optics test. First, we measure optical resolution, using the diminishing black-and-white lines of a Air Force Resolution Target to score the optical performance of each submission. We also measure the low-light performance of each budget scope by mounting them to tripods and focusing them as a group at 200 yards at a black-and-white resolution target at twilight, all in order to measure the brightness of the glass.
We break our scoring into four general categories: optical performance (25 percent of total grade), aiming system (50 percent of total grade), design (10 percent), and value (15 percent). The average of these categories is the basis of our grades, detailed below.
Optical performance includes the resolution and low-light tests plus the more subjective assessments of image quality and brightness. Aiming-system performance assesses interior and exterior aiming system, precision, and shootability. Design considers the exterior finish, interior blacking, mounting dimensions, and durability.
And then our price/value score rates how much scope&#;along with warranty and amenities such as rings, extra turrets, and lens covers&#;you get for your money. This is maybe the biggest and most impactful category for testers interested in finding that gem in the ore: The scopes that are true bargains, not because of their price but because of their quality components, glass, robust construction, and warranty.
The budget rifle scope that gets the highest overall score wins our Editor&#;s Choice award for the best in the category; the optic with the highest price/value score wins our Great Buy recognition, which in this category is possibly even more noteworthy than the Editor&#;s Choice award. We awarded other &#;Bests&#; for various noteworthy attributes.
Our 100-point evaluation adds up to a total numeric score, but we translate those to grades for each submission. Our optical performance grade combines the scores from resolution, low-light, and image quality. And our aiming system performance grade aggregates the interior/exterior aiming system, precision, and shootability scores. The design grade considers construction, innovation, versatility, and durability. And then the price/value grade is our value grade.
To earn an &#;excellent&#; grade, the average of that category must be 9 or higher, which is extremely hard to achieve. &#;Very good&#; is an average score of 7 to 9. A &#;good&#; grade is 5 to 7. Our &#;fair&#; grade is 3 to 25, and &#;poor&#; is anything under 3.
For about $425 you get a very serviceable scope that can perform well in any number of shooting situations. Let&#;s first talk about what you don&#;t get for that money with Meopta&#;s Optika5, which has been on the market for a couple years. You don&#;t get a side focus that allows you to fine-tune parallax, which is the perceived alignment of the reticle and target. You don&#;t get a reticle with useful hold-over or hold-off references. And you don&#;t get illumination.
But what you get in the Meopta is a better class of glass than most of the other scopes in this budget category, very responsive controls, and both durability and versatility. This is a scope that can transition from your mid-range deer rifle to a rimfire plinker, and could even serve on a turkey shotgun in a pinch.
The Optika5 provides a ton of value for a $350 scope. Scott EinsmannThe Optika5 won our budget rifle scope category by being pretty good in every consideration without wowing us with any specific attribute. It scored near the top of our low-light and resolution tests, and its crisp, responsive turrets tracked with pleasing precision and tactile feedback. Similarly, the power-changing control was one of the smoothest and easiest-turning of our test, maybe owing to its oversized rubber grips. The scope&#;s Z-Plex reticle&#;a fancy name for the standard duplex&#;is fast and versatile, but seems a little dated given the number and type of BDC-type reticles in the field. We can live without illumination, but it would be nice to have a side focus on this scope. Though you should note that the PA version of the Optika5 does offer side parallax adjustment for about $100 more than the basic Optika5.
&#;It&#;s fun to shoot, easy to dial, clean and smooth operation with great clicks and no play,&#; says tester Todd Netto of the Meopta. That&#;s about the best description of this scope with European heritage as we can deliver, except to add that the glass and image are both on par with those responsive controls.
Owing to its wide versatility, the Tract came close to winning our budget riflescope category. It&#;s clearly configured for an Eastern deer hunter, but it would be equally at home on a mule deer rifle or target rimfire. The heart of the Tekoa HD is its &#;Impact BDC&#; reticle, which is designed to be zeroed at 100 yards for standard center-fire calibers (pushing bullets at about 2,800 fps) and 200 yards for magnum calibers, with 3,000 fps velocities). With that zero, the first drop should equate to 200 yards for standard calibers and 300 yards for magnums, and so on until the final drop reference, which is about 500 yards for standard calibers and 600 yards for magnums. Tract has a handy calculator that will give you more precise hold overs for your specific ammo, scope, and environmentals.
While the Tract Tekoa is configured for whitetail hunting, it&#;s at home on a precision rimfire. Scott EinsmannWant to stretch your range even farther? Use the top of the lower post on the duplex reticle to get out to 600 yards for standard loads and 700 yards for magnums. With windage references for both 5 and 10 mph right-angle winds, you have all the hold values you need for most hunting situations.
The Tract has ample room to mount on a wide range of receivers. Scott EinsmannBeyond that versatile reticle, the 15-yard close focus is a great asset for rimfire plinkers, and the capped turrets move with assured precision. The other attribute of the Tract, and a consideration that&#;s overlooked by a lot of scope-buyers, is the ample mounting dimensions both fore and aft of the turrets. This is a scope that&#;s easy to mount on long-action receivers, on the quirky dovetail slots of older .22s, and on any rail. Also worth noting: the Tract&#;s tool-less rezeroable turrets that require only the removal of a threaded cap to allow the indexed turret to be moved to a new zero. It&#;s a simple, smart, and very useful design. Like the Meopta, the Tekoa HD has excellent glass.
The only consideration where the Tract lost ground to the category-winning Meopta: on our price/value assessment. The Tekoa HD retails for $499, at the very tippy-top of our under-$500 cap, and some testers thought that was a little rich. It&#;s worth noting, however, that as a direct-to-consumer brand, Tract doesn&#;t mark up its optics for retail distribution, an indication that even at $500, this is a lot of scope for the price.
Photo by Scott Einsmann
Score Card
Key Features
Pros
Cons
Bushnell has packed a ton of features into its new R5 line. The 4-12×40 in our test has a very good center-dot red LED illumination, and the side parallax focuses targets as close as 10 yards, making this a good air gun or rimfire scope. The second-plane reticle has decent references out to 800 yards. And the short (11.5-inch) scope nicely fits AR-pattern rifles or youth guns.
The accessible price (MSRP is $239 but you can probably find this for under $200) makes it a smart choice for a wide variety of hunting and shooting platforms, especially for budget gunners.
But there&#;s a cost to all those amenities in a budget scope, and users will pay it in creaky controls. We noticed that the zoom dial turns easily at lower magnifications, but then tightens toward higher powers. Same with the turrets; they turn easily and sharply in the middle of their adjustment range, but as they near the higher and lower ends of their travel, they start to stick. That&#;s a sign of cheap erector components, and we worry that users who really force the turrets could end up breaking them.
The Bushnell&#;s glass was better than we expected; it posted a very good resolution score and the 40mm scope did okay in low-light evaluations.
The DOA reticle is decent, offering MOA-based holds out to 800 yards and windage holds in both 5 and 10 mph right-angle winds. But the references are very fine, and some testers noted that they disappear against cluttered backgrounds.
Still, for a hunter who wants a scope with lots of moving parts and amenities, the R5 is priced right, and Bushnell&#;s lifetime warranty is a good backstop in case any of those moving parts stop moving. Given its abundant hunting chops for a very fair price, we awarded the R5 with our great buy award for the hunting-scope category.
Photo by Scott Einsmann
Score Card
Key Features
Pros
Cons
You could subtract points from this scope for its very narrow utility. Its AR-BDC3 reticle in the second plane is tuned to the ballistics of standard loads from a 5.56 with velocities from AR carbines. With that use-case in mind, and with a 100-yard zero, the reticle&#;s holdover references should drop a 55-grain bullet into your target out to 650 yards.
Testing the Vortex Venom LPVO with a mix of fast and precise shooting.While the Viper was one of the best AR-specific LPVOs in our test, it would be a mistake to limit your consideration to AR-15s. The scope is a wonderful rimfire optic, and we found it to be fast and reliable for dangerous-game hunting. While we might not put it on a hard-bucking turkey shotgun, it&#;s suitable for straight-wall cartridge rifles.
The Vortex Venom&#;s reticle.The heart of the scope is an MOA-based segmented circle. The 16-MOA circle halfway surrounds a floating 1-MOA illuminated dot. Non-illuminated hashes provide holdovers at 200, 400, 500, and 600 yards with a 100-yard zero and windage dots represent holds for standard-value right-angle winds. Note that the subtensions work only at the scope&#;s highest power.
The scope&#;s controls received mixed reviews, as you might expect in a price-point optic. Most testers recorded indistinct turret clicks and noted the illumination is useful only at the highest and lowest intensities. We also noted significant distortion at 1X, with convex &#;fishbowling&#; curving the image when we panned across the landscape. Do it quickly, and you can feel almost seasick.
But the Vortex has so much value, and brings attributes to the game that many of its peers couldn&#;t bring at twice the price, that it is the consensus pick for our Great Buy award as the screaming deal of this year&#;s LPVOs.
Just about any scope in this category can capably serve a Midwest whitetail hunter, but the Burris Signature, which has been on the market since , has a few attributes that allow users to reach out across the distances sometimes required for elk, mule deer, and pronghorns. The scope&#;s excellent reticle and exposed locking turrets allow shooters to either hold or dial aiming solutions.
The Signature is available with four different reticles, both fine and bold plex designs, a BDC version with 6.5 Creedmoor holds, and the Ballistic E3 MOA, which is the version we tested. Tapered plex stadia bracket a fine center aiming cross, but what gives the E3 so much versatility are the three hash steps that allow shooters to hold out to 400 yards with a 100-yard zero. Cascading dots enable hold-offs for 10 mph right-angle winds out to distance, and 2 MOA hashes on the horizontal crosshair also inform wind holds. It&#;s a simple, useful, and fast reticle, but because it&#;s in the second focal plane, magnification will dictate subtensions.
The low-profile turrets pull to turn, and feature a handy rezeroable feature. Loosen a locking screw on the turret cap and you can reset the zero in the field, if necessary. Also in the plus column, a light 17.6-ounce build and a handy length of just 11.7 inches, making the Signature a good companion to a lightweight mountain rifle.
On the minus column, the glass. The Burris scored in the middle of the field in both optical resolution and low-light performance, and the lack of manual parallax created some focus problems for testers. But the team felt the price, around $400, is fair for the wide utility of this nimble, smart scope.
Score Card
Key Features
Pros
Cons
As noted elsewhere, it&#;s nice to see Redfield&#;s distinctive red badge in our test, and this iteration of the Rebel scored better across the board than the rimfire scope. Of course, it&#;s more than twice the price, but we found a lot to like for $250, starting with the configuration.
This is a bit of an oddball for the versatile scope category, since you&#;d expect a 6-24X scope in the precision field. But there&#;s not enough talent in the Redfield to compete with true precisions scopes, and it&#;s a little overbored for many hunting situations. Still, if you&#;re a low-light hunter who wants simple reticle references, you can do worse than this big scope with both illumination and parallax.
The glass is underwhelming, and we found the turrets tinny. The Redfield was one of several budget scopes that fogged when subjected to a freeze-thaw test. But the scope tracked well, and does double duty as a mid-range hunting scope or a target optic. The close focus and versatile reticle make it a decent choice for a precision rimfire scope.
As we noted, Redfield is the house brand for Academy Sports, and frequent shoppers may well find this on sale for significantly less than its listed price, making it an even better deal on a big, powerful optic.
A very good all-around scope that smart shoppers will be able to buy for about $250, the Diamondback underwhelmed on our optics evaluation, but charmed our test team on our &#;shootability&#; assessment. It&#;s a versatile workhorse that&#;s home on rimfires to centerfire deer rifles.
We can&#;t talk about the Diamondback without mentioning what I would call a fixable failure. Part of our test is assessing turret/reticle tracking. We shoot every submission at 25 yards at a Redfield Sight-In target, using the grids to measure precision as we dial up, right, down, and left, and then back to our original zero. It&#;s a test that assesses precision and mechanical reliability. At some point, after wowing testers with exceptional precision, the Diamondback&#;s elevation turret locked up. We took the turret apart, gave it a few sharp raps on the bench, and things straightened out. But it&#;s the sort of performance problem that most shooters would use to activate Vortex&#;s legendary warranty.
Outside of that hiccup, the Diamondback&#;s mechanics are adequate. We noted some stickiness of the turrets and magnification ring, but the turret/reticle agreement are right-on. The &#;Dead-Hold BDC&#; reticle is similarly useful. We&#;d like to see a little more definition of the reticle, which gives shooters more than a suggestion of holdover and holdoff hashes, and which could be more distinctive and provide faster aiming references.
The Vortex performed well on our resolution test, but disappointed in low-light performance. But where the Diamondback shined was in our price/value assessment. There&#;s a ton of value in this simple, honest, and versatile scope. And if it fails, it&#;s important to know that Vortex and its fully transferable lifetime warranty has your back. All that optical talent, and all that back-end support, allowed the Vortex to be a very close runner-up for our Great Buy award.
Score Card
Key Features
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No scope in our budget category caused as much consternation and conversation as Athlon&#;s throwback Talos BTR. Some thought that the fixed 10-power construction was too limiting, others countered that the 10x magnification is the perfect companion to a MIL-based reticle, which is based on a power-of-10 scale. It should be noted that the Talos BTR Gen 2 comes in three different configurations, ranging from a 1-4×24 version and a 4-14×44 version. Like the 10×42 scope, these other versions come in either MIL or MOA-based reticles.
Our 10×42 sample didn&#;t wow us optically. Its low-light performance was near the bottom of the field, and its resolution was better, but not by much. Testers liked its vibrant and distortion-free image, and gave high marks to both its interior aiming system (which considers the reticle style, clarity, and utility) and exterior aiming system (turret positivity, turret indexing, and ability to return to zero after shooting a square grid). Testers reckoned that, with an excellent close-focus capability, this is an excellent rimfire scope that can step up into just about any mid-magnification center-fire task.
Are you going to mount the Talos BTR on a close-range turkey shotgun or a dangerous-game rifle? Probably not. But it would be a good choice for a long-range silhouette target scope or atop an elk rifle. The Talos BTR is built around a useful hash-style reticle that offers 10 MIL holdover references and 8 MIL windage references on either side of the .09 MIL center dot. Because the Athlon is built on a second-plane system, the reticle references don&#;t change, so you get a second-plane scope that operates pretty much as a first-plane scope works, and the hashes are useful for everything from rimfire plinking to medium-range target work, though serious shooters will be disappointed not to have windage holds on either side of the vertical stadia.
Because of the simplicity of the design&#;no power-changing gears to strip or bind&#;we expect the Talos to be a long-wearing optic. But in case of malfunctions, Athlon&#;s lifetime transferable warranty is a comforting consolation.
Our team&#;s final conclusion is that the Athlon&#;s wide versatility and extremely useful MIL-based reticle&#;along with its extremely appealing price&#;qualified the Talos BTR Gen 2 as our Great Buy in the Budget Riflescope category, which because it&#;s competing against price-point peers, is a double bonus for a handy, smart, and useful scope.
I hope you&#;re picking up on one of the themes of this category: For every merit is a demerit, and for every asset is a liability. That dichotomy is on full display with Sightmark&#;s solid and approachable Presidio.
Testers had a hard time determining the quality of its glass. It scored near the bottom of our low-light test&#;especially surprising because the Presidio boasts a big 50mm objective lens&#;but it posted decent resolution scores. Testers rated its optical quality near the middle of the pack of budget scopes.
The HDR2 reticle similarly received mixed reviews. Some found the reticle, which features a .2 MOA illuminated floating center dot and three elevation references that enable holdovers out to 20 MOA, to be a fast, simple, and relatively intuitive hunting reticle. Others wanted either more or fewer references inside the German 4 plex design.
Regardless, the Presidio brings features, namely parallax adjustment and reticle illumination, rarely found on price-point scopes. And for an MSRP of $400, Sightmark throws in decent lens caps and a throw lever, which further boosts its value proposition. The Presidio was one of a handful of rifle scopes that competed hard for our Great Buy award, and was held back mainly by its limited lifetime warranty that applies to the original purchaser with proof of purchase. Many of its peers offer fully transferrable lifetime warranties.
Overall, it&#;s a useful scope that should get strong consideration as a rimfire optic that can do double duty on a deer rifle.
With more varieties and configurations of rifle scopes than just about any brand around, Hawke has a scope for just about any platform, including airguns and crossbows. The Vantage 30 WA, which has been on the market for a few years, brings wide utility, rather than niche specialization, to shooters. The scope is built around a fairly pedestrian 4A duplex reticle, which benefits from both red and green illumination.
The center dot subtends 3.5 MOA at 4-power, with 5 MOA of drop to the top of the lower vertical stadia, and nearly 30 MOA of drop to the lower bold crosshair. But that level of precision will be lost on most shooters, who will correctly use this as a simple plinker and dead-hold hunting scope. Hawke makes a version of the Vantage 30 WA with its .223/.308 Marksman reticle that features illuminated drops out to 600 yards with standard bullets in those two popular calibers when the scope is set on 9-power.
Testing the Hawke Vantage 30 at the range. Scott EinsmannIn both versions of the Vantage 30, the glass is fairly forgettable. The Hawke scored near the bottom on both our low-light and resolution evaluations, and testers detected some edge distortion. They also wished for focus control for shots inside about 30 yards. And testers rightly complained that the indexing on the small, low-profile turrets is hard to read.
But if you&#;re looking for a dressed-up duplex reticle that can handle just about any shooting situation, brings a very light 17.5 ounces to the task, and does it for well under $300, the Hawke is worth a hard look.
This was a case where our empirical testing disagreed with our subjective testing. On paper, Maven&#;s whisper-light scope should have scored even lower. It posted the second-lowest low-light results and its resolution score was middling. But testers raved about the image, noting its brightness and clarity. The empirical scores are likely a result of the configuration; with a 40mm objective, the CRS.1 can&#;t compete with 50mm scopes as light-gathering instruments. But the Maven is built around a better class of glass than many of its price-point peers, an ingredient that accounts for its $450 price.
On the rifle range, though, the Maven produced consistent results. Its reticle&#;it stands for Classic Simple Hold Reticle&#;is basically a dual duplex with decreasing weight that leads the eye to the center crosshair. It has three drop references that offer 80 MOA of drop at 3X, or 20 MOA at 12X. Practically speaking, a shooter can zero a standard caliber at 100, and have holds out to 400 yards. There aren&#;t readily useful wind holds, though the duplex taper could serve as a reference in a pinch.
Testers recommended that these reticle references be more bold to enable quick shooting. As it is, you have to screw your eyes to pick up the fine elevation marks. But the faint reticle is nothing compared to the turret references. To a tester, we complained about the vanishingly small zero indexing, which made our exercise in dialing to aiming solutions slow and frustrating. If you intend to zero your rifle and then leave the turrets alone, it&#;s no big deal, but if you spend any time trying to dial to distance, you&#;ll beg for larger and cleaner indexing.
You&#;ll also beg for a parallax adjustment if you do much shooting inside 75 yards. Targets were fuzzy in most rimfire range, though we had no problem with focus beyond about 75 yards.
Bottom line, it&#;s an elegant, useful scope that was runner-up to the Leupold VX-3HD for our featherweight award. Each of us testers imagined the lightweight sheep rifle that would be the perfect match for the CRS.1.
Given our decades-long love affair with this scope, we were a little surprised that it didn&#;t outright win our test. But a few details held it back. The first is its configuration. Just like the 40mm Maven, the VX-3HD isn&#;t able to bring the optical horsepower of a 50mm scope. Even so, the Leupold was runner-up in our low-light test, though its resolution score was in the middle of the pack. Unlike the Maven, though, testers were generally unimpressed with the image&#;s contrast and color.
The second reason the Leupold lagged is that we didn&#;t include one of its main value propositions: a custom elevation dial that conforms to the specific bullet drop of our choosing. The reason: we strap scopes on so many different rifles during the course of our test that custom dials tend to be more trouble than they&#;re worth. In the case of the Leupold, however, a CDS would have allowed us to rate its distance game. As is, we were left with the duplex reticle and standard .25 MOA clicks. I have several VX-3HDs with custom dials, and my experience is that dialing to a specific range is fast, easy, and fairly precise, though gnat&#;s-ass precision is dependent on feeding the CDS system very specific data, including muzzle velocity, your bullet&#;s BC, your elevation, and temperature.
While we&#;re on the topic of turrets, testers complained that the windage knob has no zero index, the lack of which frustrated our tracking and return-to-zero exercise. And we noticed that images inside about 50 yards were very blurry, a function of the scope&#;s fixed parallax at 150 yards. But the elevation turret, with its push-to-turn locking mechanism and crisp positivity, received rave reviews.
Overall testers felt that the price, $499 (hitting its head on our under-$500 demarcation) was a little rich for the configuration. &#;For that price, I&#;d like to see a 12-power,&#; said one tester. But when you consider that the buyer of a VX-3HD is eligible to receive one free custom turret, which costs about $80, the price is in line with its lightweight, field-worthy peers.
The Leupold&#;s light weight and overall handling, including liberal mounting dimensions on its 1-inch tube that makes mounting on long-action rifles a cinch, made this a consensus pick to pair with a lightweight mountain rifle.
Riton went back to the drafting table and redesigned their line of rifle scopes, beefing up the erector system and adding a better class of glass. The 3 Primal aims to fill that middle price point, but this scope is a true cross-over, a first-plane precision scope with hunting chops that sells for just ($1) under $500.
Because it&#;s a different species from most of the other scopes in the budget category, some of our evaluation criteria cost the Riton some points. Testers weren&#;t fans, for instance, of the tall exposed target turrets after handling so many low-profile capped dials. They also thought the LRH (Long Range Hunter) reticle had too few references for true precision target work and a few too many for fast hunting action.
Testers liked the Riton&#;s dual position throw lever. Scott EinsmannMost noticeably was the Riton&#;s underperforming glass. The 3 Primal finished at the bottom of the low-light test and posted a middling resolution score. Testers noted some color fringing and peripheral distortion. But mechanically, the scope is an over-performer. The turrets turn with precision and fine feedback, and the reticle/turret agreement was one of the best in the test, though we had a hard time seeing the finer reticle references until about 8X.
&#;Love at first sight,&#; wrote tester Luke Coccoli, who shorthanded his perspectives on the reticle to &#;Nay hunt, yay precision.&#;
Other nice touches are the multi-position &#;Dual Throw Lever&#; system that allows users to adjust the placement and the height of the throw lever to their preference, the 10-yard parallax adjustment that makes this a fine choice for a rimfire competition scope, and the daylight-bright red illumination.
The 3 Primal is a fine choice for a scope that can run several different rifles, and in several different shooting scenarios. We&#;d like to see the next iteration with glass that equals the excellent controls.
Photo by Scott Einsmann
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With its new R3 family of optics, Bushnell has a new entry-level scope that offers some very appealing attributes for a beginning hunter or a shooter on a budget.
First is its price. For a little over $100 you get an honest scope with enough reticle references to make informed shots at middle distances. The glass is murky but it&#;s good enough for 90 percent of a hunter&#;s time in the field. The re-zeroable turrets are mushy but serviceable. In short, it&#;s a solid effort.
We&#;ve been fans of Bushnell&#;s DOA reticle since it came on the scene in the brand&#;s Trophy line of scopes nearly 20 years ago, and the combination of bullet-drop references and simple windage marks makes it a fast, simple, and effective hunting reticle. With a 100-yard zero, shooters have four 1 MOA dots for elevation holds, and the top of the extended duplex post provides a 600-yard reference. It&#;s not overly precise, but at least the references are informed by ballistic parabolas. Users can further fine-tune their bullet velocities to the reticle by pairing it with the free Bushnell Ballistic App.
We worry about the durability of this scope, though it was one of the few budget scopes that didn&#;t fog after a freeze-thaw test. Additionally, the Bushnell&#;s fixed parallax limits its utility at both very short and very long distances. But those are relatively minor quibbles for a scope that would be at home on a first squirrel gun or deer rifle.
Photo by Scott Einsmann
Score Card
Key Features
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Cons
This scope absolutely ruled our four-scope straight-wall cartridge shoot-off, thanks to a clear and useful reticle that literally gives shooters specific hold-over directions. You want to zero at 100 yards? The reticle has a 100-yard reference, with the number etched on the reticle. There are other numeric etching at 150, 200, 250, and 300 yards. I know what you&#;re saying: all those numbers probably clutter the view.
You&#;re not wrong; the references are a little busy. But our testers found them to be fast, precise, and idiot-proof.
&#;I was skeptical about lobbing a 300-grain bullet out at 300 yards, but I just held where the scope told me and rang steel on my first shot,&#; noted tester Dale Manning. &#;It&#;s precise, but it&#;s also really fast in real-world field conditions.&#;
The very specific references that make this the best straight-wall cartridge scope in our test limit its wider utility. Those etched bullet drops aren&#;t going to help a rimfire shooter or a hunter who&#;s using a .30/06 or 6.5 Creedmoor. And testers hated the Hawke&#;s turrets, which are small and hard to turn and lack indexing.
But if you&#;re in the market for a scope that will lob bullets surprisingly precisely, from both 350 and 400 Legends, 360 Buckhammer, 450 Bushmaster, and .45/70 Gov&#;t, this is absolutely the scope for you.
Given the organizing principle of this category, price is the biggest consideration for a budget scope. But be careful with that definition, because as your mother (or cynical uncle) probably told you, budget sometimes means cheap. When it comes to rifle-mounted optics, cheap fails. Instead, try to find that sweet spot between an accessible price, purposeful performance, and quality components and build. Sounds like a unicorn, but such products do exist.
First, check to see if the glass is actually described by the manufacturer. Most price-point scopes use cheaper generic glass, but if you see a brand that boasts of using ED (or extra-low-dispersion) glass, or HT (high-transmission) glass, give that product a second look. Often Japanese-made scopes have a slightly higher grade of glass than those sourced elsewhere in Asia. Check on-line reviews of the product. If you see a constant theme of returns or failures, move along, but if previous buyers are generally favorable and charitable to the product, look deeper.
Depending on whether you&#;re looking for a scope to do a single job (ringing long-range steel, winning a rimfire competition, or killing a whitetail at modest distances) or whether you want a scope that can handle many situations, you&#;re going to want to pay attention to the reticle, turrets, and parallax adjustment, as well as the magnification range.
Lastly, consider the warranty. Especially in this class, where malfunctions occur at a higher rate than on pricier scopes with high-quality components, you want to make sure manufacturers have your back. A fully transferable lifetime warranty&#;that will be honored regardless of whether you were the original purchaser or not&#;is worth a lot, and can mitigate some of the reluctance to buy scopes at the higher end of this &#;budget&#; category.
Back to that question we posed in the intro: what&#;s a sensible definition of a &#;budget&#; rifle scope? It might be $50 for a 4-power you want for your squirrel gun. Or it might be $1,500 for a scope to pair with your $5,000 custom rifle. I think of it this way: I&#;m never uncomfortable spending half the price of a rifle on a scope. Back in , when I bought my first VX-3 for $300, the new Remington 700 in 7mm Rem Mag I mounted it on cost about $600. Now that many production rifles cost $800 to $1,000, our $500 ceiling for a quality, versatile scope is right in the ballpark. And, as our test should show you, there&#;s a lot of quality and choice in that ballpark.
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