Ok, I did some checking. Do you have the 54 dollar BSA illumanated reticle scope? If you do I will wish you luck, you may need it. That price for a 3-9x40 with IR seems a bit too good to be true. And you know what that usually means. It looks like it has the same reticle as the Catseye as well, so it might be a little thick for small targets at long ranges.

In referance the BSA Catseye 3-10x44 with IR has almost the same specs and is almost 3 times the money. I would be curious to see both side by side to see if there is a big build quality difference.The BSA's I have owned for under 100 dollars have not been overly impressive in build quality or optics.

What kind of rifle are you putting it on? I'm not saying it will be a POS and you will have problems with it. It might serve you very well, but I wouldn't be shocked if you posted within the year complaining about it. It may also have fogging issues in crappy weather. I had a contender that wasn't worth a flip in cold wet weather. Of course it really wasnt made for that kind of stuff, so maybe it lacked the proper coatings?

The new panthers look nice though.

Oh, and I never used my illuminated reticle. It looked cool though. I would never pay extra for a scope that had it. Then again I don't hunt in the dark. I do have a few scopes that I can see perfectly in the moon light. Mostly lower powered ones.

Good luck,
Paul