SIGHTRON users

i havent heard anything bad about the scopes this company makes, and believe me i have read a lot of reviews and news pieces, and not one thing negative.  excellent optics, excellent customer service.  nuff said.

so, i am going to buy one to see for myself.  but heres a question for the ones who use them. is the difference between the S2 and S2 big sky, a big difference?  is the 150 bucks more for the big sky version, worth the differences?

thanks,
mtw

i just asked koshkin the same thing the other night, and his answer was the sII is on par with the nikon monarch, the big sky sII is more like a 4200 elite or a zeiss conquest so yes i could see the extra $150 being worth it, and there cs dept sounded  like it was pretty good to work with from what ive been told.

Actually there have been several posts concerning focus issues with the newer big sky line. I bought one this summer that wouldn't focus at all and returned it while just a couple weeks ago Pete posted he got a big sky with the exact same problems and hes trying to get a new scope from them for his. Haven't heard of any problems with the Sll, raincoating and slightly better optics come with the big sky. Others have posted of getting big skys that worked fine so I guess its luck of the draw.

Focus

Focus,

They wanted to repair instead of replace, I asked what about your lifetime replacement warranty? They told me to read the warranty that came with the scope......it says repair OR replacement at their discretion. I then simply returned mine to the optics warehouse I purchased it from (it was still new) and upgraded to a conquest. I believe Pete sent his back and they told him the adjustments were way off(W&E) and sent it back just as bad as it was. I believe he sent it in again......

Yes both these cases were 4x16 big sky's....if the problems are strictly regarding that model I don't know. On another optics site I frequent a poster reported they told him they had some new model "bugs" to work out in the big sky line.

Focus

Edited by Focus - December/11/2007 at 08:38

i think most scope outfits are like that, repair it before they replace it, which sucks its like they play three strikes and you finally get a replacement.

I and 2 friends have been doing many hours of comparison on the following. Not to light a fire here but here's what we came up with.

All testing was done at 6  10 and  14 powers.
All testing was done with all scopes side by side.
All scopes were looked through by 3 people 100% of the testing.
All scopes were rated 1,2,3,4 for each heading.

Bushnell 4-16X40                   389.65
Sightron Big Sky 4-16X42      498.95
Nikon Monarch  4-16X42        439.95
Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14X44    749.95

To sum up the testing, I would have to agree with Koshkin.

   Clarity              Sharpness         Eye Relief       Eye Relief Forgivingness         Non Fogging

1)Conquest         Conquest           Sightron                Sightron                              Bushnell
2)Sightron            Sightron            Conquest              Monarch                              Sightron
3)Bushnell            Bushnell            Monarch                Conquest                           Conquest
4)Monarch             Monarch            Bushnell                Bushnell                            Monarch

Conquest gets the nod for best choice of reticles by far.
Conquest excelled at 14 power in clarity and sharpness.
Conquest, Sightron and Bushnell were very close when it got dark. They all were within a couple of minutes. The media we were reading was the cover of a phone book with several different size letters and numbers on it. To be fair we switched to different phone books for each person and let each individual adjust focus and AO. This was done on 3 different nights so each had time to adjust and look at each scope each night.

Overall, the Bushnell at it's price point is awesome for those that don't mind short, somewhat touchy eye relief. Raingaurd a big plus.

The new Monarch is a nice piece of glass but has a bit to much competition at its price point. Great constant eye relief but not as good as the Conquest and Sightron.

Sightron Big Sky, to me the best bang for the buck for hard kicking calibers, and for you that don't mind the front focus AO (which I prefer). Awesome glass, awesome eye relief, very forgiving eye relief.

Conquest, the best overall scope but, not by much. If the price were in the 550.00 range it would be more appealing, I didn't like plastic caps but really not a big issue. Still awesome glass.

This test consumed roughly 5.5 hours per person

Hope this helps in your future purchased from SWFA.com

Rob

the way koshkin was talking to me the sII big sky has a similar coating like the rainguard on the 4200

pyro6999 wrote: the way koshkin was talking to me the sII big sky has a similar coating like the rainguard on the 4200

It does, pretty much the same thing.

Its a shame that we can't post all the prices the scopes are really available for, it would make the conquest a lot better looking deal. I Payed $586 for a brand new (not demo) 4.4x14x44 in September. The conquest line varies wildly between different dealers on price. I wouldn't pay the suggested retail numbers you see quoted oftimes. I can sell mine for less than the retail $ and make money.

Focus

Edited by Focus - December/11/2007 at 10:52

msrp sucks!

Oh yea, I agree with Robs post pretty much 100% except didn't see the difference in eye placement reported between the conquest and big sky.

Focus

Sorry for your problems Pete, since I've had the same scope with the same problem I know where you are coming from. Lucky for me we spotted the problems early and sent it back and exchanged it for a conquest. I love the conquest by the way, crystal clear and works like a charm. The sightron was short in the tube and required off set rings or mounts to fit a normal long action. Reticle was too fine for my use also. Good Luck with your scope problems.

   Focus

thats thing about newer scope co's you dont know what they really make until they have been around for a while, i guess if money wasnt an issue i would take the zeiss to between these two scopes anyway.

Focus,

Brock_Brett,

Wally wrote: Brock_Brett,   Thanks for sharing your test results.  They are most interesting.   Steve

Wally, I'm not done with their scopes,after all none of the makers totally replace without repairing. But I will wait till the big sky line is debugged and running smoothly. I agree they make a viable alternative. I think what really burned me was they don't talk about changing from 100% replacement to replace or repair. I believe you are right that every problem I've heard of has been with the higher powered AO variables.

Focus

The Big Sky has 'Climate Coating' similar to Bushnell's 'Rainguard'. It has a one piece tube and a locking devise similar to Burris 'Posi-lock'. It's compact, light weight and has a long eye relief.

Hey Northlander, nice buck........now tell me about that locking devise on the big skys, like the posi loc on the burris? I haven't seen anything about this and it hasn't been on any big sky I've seen. You aren't talking about exact trac are you? Thats simply a term for the way their erector uses two curved surfaces instead of curved against flat to keep W&E adjustments exact as they get to the limit of their movement. It doesn't lock the erector tube like the burris posi loc does. Pardon the pun but dial me in......

   Focus

Edited by Focus - December/11/2007 at 18:49

I bought an SII about a year ago.   The Big Skys weren't out yet.   It is a 3-9X42.  I used it on a Tikka T3 lite in Montana this fall.  I'm able to shoot sub .5 MOA with it using Fed 140 gr Accubond factory loads.   I hunted in bright sunlight to low evening light and it performed very well.  I hit what I shot at filling five tags at ranges in excess of 300 yards. 

Previously, when the Big Sky came out, someone suggested waiting a bit before purchasing to stay out of the possible debugging scrum.  After reading some of the posts, I'm having second thoughts about them.  I expect that it will however, all be straightened out in time.  The glass on my SII is good.  It holds zero, has good fit and finish and stood  up to the moderate recoil of a 270 WSM.   The Big Sky is a step up in quality so I hope they get it sorted out.   I'm monitoring reports with interest.

it sounds to me like the problem was with only one model of there scopes, sounds like the 3x9's havent had any issues

thanks for the input guys, youve been a big help.  ive been wanting to replace some old scopes on some of my rifles. 
as for the review the Brett did, it is almost the exact same results, that i had read some more folks did some test reports.  as for the big sky focus problems, i did hear that sightron says that they did have one model that had problems, that got past their QC.
i use only 3x9 scopes, and i think i will order a s2 to start, if it looks good, then ill try a s2 big sky as well, unless i can find some of those 399 conquest's on sale again.  i like leupold as well but i was kinda hoping that the sightrons would fill the price gap, and still have a good or as some have said, better than a leupold for the fraction of the price.

thanks again

dont they have them for $399 here still check

www.riflescopes.com

I just bought a SII Big Sky 1.25-5x20 to go on a Sig 556.  It's a great scope for the money and I'm very pleased.