What's The BEST Model Light Gathering Scope?

DM · 12-15-2005, 04:03 PM

I'm thinking of buying a new scope that"must" work in "low light levels". I'm willing to pay for quality,and would like to knowwhat would be your choise? Either 1" or 30mm is fine with me and i do realize the best scopes won't be compact scopes. I'm looking for light gathering here, not scopes that light up the reticles.

Where can i see your choise on line?

Thanks in advance,

Drilling Man

Deleted User · 12-15-2005, 04:40 PM

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Paul L Mohr · 12-15-2005, 04:46 PM

Probably any of the high end scopes over a grand. They all have really good optics. Also keep in mind objective size and power will play a part in it as well.

Do you have a price range or size limitation?

Out of curiousity what do you need it for?

Cabela's carries many of the top end scopes if you want to look at them. However if you are looking for that you will really need to go look at one in person and compare them. Not just take someones word for it or go by what you read on the net.

Paul

James B · 12-15-2005, 05:07 PM

I have not looked through all of them during low light times. However My Aetecs are the best that I own. I have Leupold, Bushnell and Aetecs. The 3200 Bushnell is a close second. These are the only ones that I have used enough to speak for.

bigbulls · 12-15-2005, 05:16 PM

If money is no object then get a Swarovski. Brightest and clearest scopes I have ever looked through even though I can't afford one for myself.

BTW, scopes do not "gather" light they transmit light. Every single lens the light passes through reflects a certain percentage of that light back to where it came from and as the light passes through each lenase the light transmitted becomes less and less. This is where the highest quality glass that has been perfectly polished comes into play. Same thing with glass coatings. Make sure that you gat a scope with every single lens multi coated. These coatings reduce the percentage of reflection from each of the lenses.

After that you need to do some math. An adults eye pupil only gets so big and small. In bright day light conditions the pupil is only about 2mm in diameter. At night the pupil opens up to about 6 or 7mm. So you gotta figure out the diameter of the exit pupil of the scope. Take the objective diameter and divide it by the power. For example a 3-9X50 scope will have an exit pupil of 16.6mm at 3X magnification. With the exit pupil larger than your eyes pupil your eye is absorbing all of the light that it can. When you craik it up to 9 power the exit pupil size shrinks to only 9mm. Your eye is still able to absorbe all of the light.

Now if you had a 3-12X40 the exit pupil would only be 3.3mm at 12 power. Say it is right at dark and your eyes are fully dialated to 6mm absorbing all available light. If the exit pupil of the scope is only 3.3mm then the full diameter of your eyes pupil is not being used (almost half) and the scope will not be as bright as a scope with a larger exit pupil size.

Ridge Runner · 12-15-2005, 05:31 PM

awesome european glass and at leupold prices check out IOR scopes, lenses made by zeiss assembled in the czech republic. I think they have them at www.swfa.com, or a leupold lps. they gather light as well or better than the human eye can pick it up.
The eye is made up of cells called rods and cones, cones see color, rods pick up light, our eyes have many more cones than rods, this is why we must have so much light in order to see, where most game species do not see color well due to having way more light gathering rods in they're eye's than cones, The large number of rod cells in the eye is why animals eye's shines in the dark in the light.
RR

Rebel Hog · 12-15-2005, 06:10 PM

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trailer · 12-15-2005, 06:17 PM

One make of scope that you shouldn"™t rule out is Nikon. I have a Euro Leupold, Simmons Aetec, Nikon Gold, Weaver Grand Slam and Swarovski scopes and for the money the Nikon Gold gives a good run for it"™s price. It"™s one of the clearest scope I have and I"™ve confirmed it with fellow workers. Yes the Swarovski have very nice optics but my Nikon is half the price although a little heavy. I have used my Nikon in low light conditions and has worked very well and being able to see things well before legal time. Have fun shopping and good luck.

KansasHunter5 · 12-15-2005, 06:27 PM

Try a leupold vari-xIII or a Leupold premier scope in the 30mm tube. Either of these are great light transmiting scopes.

Duckbutter48 · 12-15-2005, 08:15 PM

Obviously the big $ scopes are the way to go but if you notice a few of these posts list the Simmons Aetec. If you play the "which one of these doesnt match" game with price, it would be the Simmons. I have on in 2.5 to 10 x 44 on my muzzleloader and think its a great scope. Ive seen these scopes very reasonable at Natchezz Shooting supplies. If your on a budget definetly check them out.