Vortex 2-7 x35 Diamondback test drive

I took a good look through it here in the house as it is cloudy and quite dark out, and it is very sensitive to eye position. Move your head just the tiniest, and  the edges go black on ya. Clarity seems okay, but I will wait judgement till I can get some other scopes out to compare it to. The duplex reticle is sized just about right, and is quick to pick up. The weight now feels kinda re-assuring . Inside the scope tube is a sizeable white smudge about the size of quarter, and some dust ( not re-assuring ) .The power ring has a good feel to it ( not too hard--not too easy to turn ) . Weather permitting, I will break out some similar scopes I have to line it up against ( 4200 1.5-6, Monarch 2-7, Trophy 1.75-5, Pentax Whitetails Unlimited 2-5 , Browning 2-7, and a 3200 Elite 2-7) Should be fun. I have a Handirifle 30/30 I can swop the optics out on, and see what's what at the range hopefully on Sunday.

So -for the actual comparison. I lined up the Vortex 2-7x35 against what I had in the safe .

My 14 yr son ( good eyes ) and my 43 yr old old fogee eyes  tried them out . I gave them in comparison a scale of -2 ( worse ) , 0 =the same , and up to +2 for optically superior. My son and I gave them whole numbers , and I averaged them out below.We had the fortune of a robin in the shadow under a trampoline at about 45 yd.s  to get a good idea of how they performed.

 

Vortex 2-7x35 = baseline

Simmons 2x7 x44 ( 44 mag) big surprise - 0.5 ( pretty clear )

4200 1.5-6 ...+1.5

Vari-X  III 2.5-8x36 ...+1

3200 Elite ...-0.5 ( hoped it would do better)

Monarch 1.5-4.5 ... 0.5

Trophy 1.75-5... - 1

Sightron SII 1.5-6x42 ....-0.5 ( big surprise -  disappointed )

Browning 2-7x32 ( recently discontinued ) ...0.5

 

Overall , the scope was really very clear. I swopped it on the 30-30 handi-rifle in the photos and put a box of Hornady  Leverolutions through it .

Positives- really very clear for the money, boxed out just fine, tracked true ...

Minuses - its heavy, and  very sensitive to eye position  ( forward / back and line of sight ) . I mounted it on a light kicker , but appropriate for the magnification range and unit price.  Seems like an okay piece , but note it's heavier than all I compared it too ,watch the scope covers -arrived cracked, and some dust and a white smudge inside the scope body.

 

 

Is it the exit pupil on the scope that makes head position so critical or what?

Kind of a bad attribute for a low magnification scope, wouldn't you say?