I've owned my share of cheapies too. I had a 4x32 tasco that would not quit. I abused this thing. When I gave it away it had maybe 50% of its finish left but still held together. I also had a rem 742 that ate tascos for lunch. Lots of broken reticles. This rifle was a good test of quality. I put a nikon buckmaster on it and my brothers been shooting it for three years. I think there are alot of very functional scopes for $200.

I too have had my share of "cheapo" scopes, I am not saying you need a $1000.00 piece of glass either. What I am saying is that there is alot of difference in light trasmission of some brands. I prefer nikon it seems to be as good as any in that department.I tried and that will never happen agin!!! I havent liked any tasco that I bought, I guess I dont mind paying 200.00 to 500.00 for my scopes.

I didn't see where ryncam16 asked about $300-$1500 scopes. Unfortunately $175 is not a lot of money for glass anymore.

My experience with cheap $30-$50 scopes has been far different than that of what some others have posted here. I went through a series of cheap Bushnells and Tascos that fogged, were not repeatable through the power ranges, and to put it bluntly just plain broke.The weather here in Maine can be sunny to rainy to snow in a matter of hours. For what I ended up spending on cheap stuff, I could (and should) have bit the bullet and bought something better. Good glass can and will save the day.

If your experience is different, great. But after I have spent 6 days in the woods in rain, freezing rain, snow, sleet, and 15 degree weather, I want to be able to rely on my equipment with the greatest amount of certainaty possible.

Everybody has thier right for opinion, but some of this stuff is just too much. My job in life is to test optics. I have been in fiber and classical optics for 10 years. We as a company do not buy lenses, thin film filters for a higher price just because of the name. We will buy on the bases of QA and a little on relationship with the supplier.I can assure you, you pay thru the nose for transparency, back reflection and how close they can match the index of refraction with the air. And the price goes up exponentially. ForBR of -35db, you might pay 5 dollars afiber end. But for BR of less than -60dB, you pay 55 dollars for a component.
I can assure you that all tascos I have owned or looked at was horrible pieces of junk. But I am sure there are good ones out there. First test they have failed that I have yet to see Leupold fail. The box test. How many of you have done this I wonder?

Second was horrible parralax. No excuse for this, but for every scope I see under 100 dollars, it amazes me. And the cheap bushnells and simmons with AO are the worse. How many have ever tested this out.

Resolution. There's a great article in last months american rifleman that explains this pretty well. They even give you a sample sheet from the USAF. Not only is this type of sheet excellent for resolving resolution, assuming lense shapes are neglable, and BR is less than -60dB, but also will show lense quality.

So do I.

Well, this all has me intrigued. I am going to Bass Pro later to take a look at these new tascos.

I'm concerned about them.....they have been bought out and are no longer the company they used to be....

They got dragged down with the K-Mart bankrupsy. Tasco had a zillion $$$ at risk with K-Mart and lost big time in that reorganization. It hurt them so badly that they too went under.....to be bought out by someone else. I don't know the status today and have no experience with the current offerings......sad deal for them....

I don't know what scope I'd buy today unless I find an old Tasco....they just worked for me. The Simmons scopes have left me soured a bit although I hear some are fine....I have a 44 mag by simmons on a varmint rifle and it's a fine scope......6-20 X 50 with the target knobs. BTW it too was cheap!!!!!

I thought mead bought them and redfield out?

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I am not saying that Tasco is so good or they are so bad. I was just using them b/c I have one and know what it can do. I think that you can also buy other cheaper brands. I also had a Tasco on my .22 that wasn't all that great. Also had a Bushnell on my .270 that was about like using the open sights. I was simply stating that the one I have on my rifle now is as good as the Vari X III my buddy has on his .270 Weatherby Mag. and others that have high dollar scopes. We hunt together and even they will tell you that my cheap-o will do the same thing, just as good as theirs. Maybe I just got a good one. Or maybe they just got bad ones. My best friend let me use his 7mm mag with a Varix I or II ( can't remember which he has), b/c I couldn't find the key to my gun safe one day. ( i know stupid me). I had to get out of the stand about 30mins sooner than I usually get out. I set ALL of my friend's scopes, so I have used and looked through several high dollar scopes and cheap ones. I personally can't tell much difference b/t them and mine. I did set a scope for a guy that had a Simmons on it, ( can't remember which one) and to me, thats the cleariest scope i've ever seen.

Quality doesn't have to be measured by price tag. All I was saying.

I'm gonna give it a rest and simply say, good luck and let us know what you decided to go with!