Vapodog, I've had two Trashco's fail me! One at the gun range, which was not replaced in time for hunting season. The other failed me in the woods. I thought that I might have just missed, but after going back to the range, I found that the Trashco was once again broken!

I know that this scope horror story could be with any other brand of scope too!
As I have said here before though, quality control costs money, thats just one factor in a scopes cost and/or quality. But the extra expense of quality control, helps ensure that less defective scopes ever leave the factory
Quality control, and cheaper materials are the easiest way for companies to shave their costs!

My thinking these days is that you CAN get a quality scope for under $200.00, and a$1000.00 scope isNOT neccesarily 5 times better than the $200.00 scopes,BUT for under $100.00 you are setting yourself up for a disappointment!And that disappointment probably will come at the worst possible time!

I ended up with around $130-140 in my Pro Staffs.

The cheap scopes I've owned have not been as good as the more expensive ones. By more expensive I mean Leupold VX-II and above, Zeiss Conquests, Nikon Monarch and Swarovski PH. In my opinion there is a correlation between quality and price.

Why would you spend 400.00 on a rifle and under 100.00 on a scope it just dosent make sense to me..The scope is as important as the rifle being quality.

My personal experience has been exactly the opposite.

I will say that many many folks disagree with me but I post my personal experience.

Some truth to both sides. If you hunt out a box blind, as is common in the south, where your scope is sheltered, a cheaper scope will often give years of good service. I see a LOT of used rifles, and many I have bought still have cheapy "No-Name" scopes on them that are very servicable. On the other hand, if you hunt humping your rifle up a mountain in Idaho, exposed to rain, sleet, snow, and God knows what else, a cheapy scope will die pretty quick.

Lots of good advice here. One area that hasn't been mentioned is looking for used scopes. You can pick up used Leupold M8 4x33 on ebay for about $125. They will last you a lifetime and are very good scopes. I'm also partial to Weaver scopes and have a number of K2.5 that I picked up for less than $100. I have also seen Busnell Elite 3200s for right around $100 on the used markets.

The heartbreak of a cheap scope failure at the wrong time will last far longer than the pain of writing the check for a better scope to begin with.

so very true....however: The heartbreak of an expensive scope failure at any time will far outlast the pain caused by a cheap scope failure.

Why are we so bound and determined that just because the scope we bought is cheap it's going to fail us while we're aiming at that trophy elk?

I'll give you a perfect example of crap scopes VS. good scopes I had a busnell on a 300win mag and was elk hunting w/ a buddy of mine, we both were set up at the edge of a meadow in the dark. as it started to get light I hear this bull bugle. So I cow call and he starts coming my way. I see him, a nice 5x5,and he gets about 60yds out before he looks away and gives me the chance to raise my rifle......I see a big gray blob![:@]![:@]! NOT ENOUGH LIGHT TO SEE THROUGH MY SCOPE!!!ARGHHHH. About that time my buddy shoots it from 350yds. He had a leupold Vari-X III. He clearly saw that it was a 5x5 from 350yds w/ his leupold while I couldntsee at all through that bushnell. You dont have to pay $1000+ to get a good scope, but anything that retails for less than $200 is trouble, but thats not to say you cant get a $300-$500scope on sale for less than 200.

A scope capturing light has nothing to do with money. VapoDog, they just don't get it do they?

Using my"Trashco", I can stay in the woods a lot later than my best friend who has a Lepoud. Proven time and time again. PERIOD. I shot a buck two years ago when a guy hunting near me was already opening the door to his truck. He was amazedthat I was still in the stand and could SEE.If you want a scope that captures and holds light, hell throw a 56mm on there. I hunt very thick places that get dark a lot faster, so I use a 50mm. Its not hard, bigger hole equals more light. The darker it gets, the lower power you need to have your scope on.

I tell you what. Give Bill Jordan and some of the other celeb hunters a Trashco to sport around on tv with a $1,000,000 marketing budget. And we will see how many Trashco's get put on hunter's rifles next season. Having a Business degree, trust me, I know all of the marketing scemes.

I am not putting down any other scope. I am simply saying that you can pay $150-$200 for a scope that will work just as good and last just as long as the $800 or $1,500 ones.

Is a Lexus better than a Toyota? Is an Infiniti better than a Nissan? Is a Acura better than a Honda?

THEY ARE ALL MADE BY THE SAME COMPANIES!!!!!!!!!! MARKETING MARKETING MARKETING!!!!!!!!!! Can someone say MARKETING!!!!!!!!