Swarovski rifle scope update...

[Taidog1]

For anyone considering purchasing a new Swarovski. Not a review. Just a purchase update for your consideration. Had I known this earlier.........

For 2 of my hunting rifles, I have purchased 2 new Swarovskis'. A Z5i and a Z3.

The Z5i 2.4x12x50 is now on my 30-06. Provided there are no quality issues - it will stay on that rifle.

The Z3 - same power levels as the Z5 - had the Ballistic Turret. The external, multi colored dot system on the elevation turret - Hopeful - I thought this would end a lot of my personal dialing confusion. The perfect, simple system. All those high expectations crashed when I discovered what it took with the elevation turret just to prepare it for sighting in at 100 yards ONLY - and then reassemble all the many pieces with the Swaro "chip" provided to keep everything tight. Holy cow!!! I am a patient man but all those (too many) steps with the small plastic chip with TINY ajustment knobs - sorry - just not going to do that. God bless those of you who can. I wish I could.

This morning, exchanged it - another Z3 - no BT - no dialing - has the BRH reticle to help me with hold-overs. Yeah - I know - well short of all the dialing advantages. KISS always seems to work better for me. LR target work comes a distant second to my hunting - so I'll live with the hold-over disadvantages.

Will post a range update in a few days.

Cheers Ya'll.

[Stumpkiller]

Too rich for my blood. I went with a Leupold VX5-HD for my primary hunting rifle. A friend and neighbor has Swarovski optics and I drool over them. But he did VERY well as a business owner, but I worked under business owners. Cannot fault you if you have the financial impetuous to go that route. You are fortunate.

[J.Baker]

Too rich for my blood. I went with a Leupold VX5-HD for my primary hunting rifle. A friend and neighbor has Swarovski optics and I drool over them. But he did VERY well as a business owner, but I worked under business owners. Cannot fault you if you have the financial impetuous to go that route. You are fortunate.

The Swaro Z3's and basic Z5's aren't too spendy; just under $1k for a 4-12x Z3 and about $1100 for the basic Z5 2.4-12x. Leupold's pricing really isn't much cheaper depending on features/reticle you want. Yes a base mode VX-3HD 4.5-14x starts at $500, but if you want a fancier reticle and illumination you're now looking at $700 or better. The Leupold VX-5HD in a 3-15x starts at $900 for the base configuration and goes up to as high as $1600 for a more feature laden model.

[LDSILLS]

For anyone considering purchasing a new Swarovski. Not a review. Just a purchase update for your consideration. Had I known this earlier.........

For 2 of my hunting rifles, I have purchased 2 new Swarovskis'. A Z5i and a Z3.

The Z5i 2.4x12x50 is now on my 30-06. Provided there are no quality issues - it will stay on that rifle.

The Z3 - same power levels as the Z5 - had the Ballistic Turret. The external, multi colored dot system on the elevation turret - Hopeful - I thought this would end a lot of my personal dialing confusion. The perfect, simple system. All those high expectations crashed when I discovered what it took with the elevation turret just to prepare it for sighting in at 100 yards ONLY - and then reassemble all the many pieces with the Swaro "chip" provided to keep everything tight. Holy cow!!! I am a patient man but all those (too many) steps with the small plastic chip with TINY ajustment knobs - sorry - just not going to do that. God bless those of you who can. I wish I could.

This morning, exchanged it - another Z3 - no BT - no dialing - has the BRH reticle to help me with hold-overs. Yeah - I know - well short of all the dialing advantages. KISS always seems to work better for me. LR target work comes a distant second to my hunting - so I'll live with the hold-over disadvantages.

Will post a range update in a few days.

Cheers Ya'll.

Thanks for the comment. You seldom hear much about Swarovski optics these days!

[Bobby Tomek]

The Z3 - same power levels as the Z5 - had the Ballistic Turret.

Am curious as to what you meant by this as the magnification levels simply can't be the same. One has a 3x mag range while the other is basically a 5x configuration.

[Bobby Tomek]

Too rich for my blood. I went with a Leupold VX5-HD for my primary hunting rifle.

Actually, most Z3s that I have priced are generally less than a VX5-HD. You must be thinking of the Z6/Z6i, etc.