Power

Dammit! I was all set to drop 5 Franklin' s on a Vari-X III. Then I went to the Sportsman' s Warehouse in Kennewick. I oogled over the Leupold I wanted, then the Nikon for kicks. He pushed a Burris scope into my hands and it was fine too.

Then he handed me a Zeiss....

Now, I' ve never even dreamed of spending that kind of money for a scope. Heck, spending anything over a couple hundred bucks seems ridiculous to me. I started looking at the Cabela' s Alaskan Guide scopes and thought that was the ticket. I have a Nikon 3-9x40 and it' s a very bright scope but I want something with more power.

It all started last October. I had a herd in my scope 250 yards away but wasn' t quite light enough nor did I have enough power to positively ID the only legal bull us Washington hunters can shoot with a general permit, a Spike bull. I was 75% certain but that' s not enough to be sure. Since that was my 8th season of Elk hunting and I still hadn' t ever notched my tag I was eager. But I just couldn' t tell.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!! My brother-in-law, who was only about 100 yards away from the Elk, and who had his son spotting for him with 7x40 binos, let loose with his .270. Well, I guess I was right.

Anyway, that' s how this all started. Now with one of Carl' s Conquest scopes filling my retina with all that beautiful flourescent lighting from the store my eye fell in love. Sure the Nikons are bright, the Leupolds are great, heck, even the Swaroski is a great scope. But that Zeiss...my eye was in heaven!!!

Just wanted to share with you all. I' m just a normal Joe that reads all the hunting mags and I always take it with a grain of salt when the writers talk about the really good optics and how it' s worth it. Today, I became a believer.

If you have any input on those scopes I' d love to hear it. Thanks.

Power

woodseye

Same thing happened to me,was a loyal Vari X lll man and went to buy another and decided to put the leupold and a conquest on the comparator and compare.That was the beginning of replacing all my scopes with conquests!Saving now for my fourth one,no end in sight!

woods

rongleaves

I know exactly what you mean guys. I too was a loyal Leupold man until I got a conquest for Christmas. Man is that thing awsome! I put it on a Browning Stainless Stalker in .300wsm. (it' s one sweet shooting gun) Can' t wait till hunting season! Now I want to put Zeiss on all my other rifles just can' t afford it.

handloader1

I plan to mount a 3-9X40 Conquest on a muzzleloader. Good shooting.

skeeter 7MM

I have owned 3 Vari x III and always been very pleased with them. However I am not a brand pusher by any means, as I have 3 Bushnell Elites, 1 Vari x III and Burris Sign Series, all have performed flawlessly and in real field conditions haven' t cost me a shot. Last fall I looked through a Conquest and went wow!!!!!! Since then I have been planning on topping my 7 mag with a 3.5 x 10 x 44. My only concern was are they as durable and reliable as the Vari x III. I live in the north and have had some scopes not up to the task, my fear was this may be another. I had heard some horror stories about this scope with: POI shift, tracking and not being suitable for a Mag rifle, which led me to put the brakes on purchasing. I believe those have subsided and possibly it was a bad run on the line. Woodseye was one hunter that had experienced a problem with the Conquest, but it appears he feels pretty confident with the scope, so my mind is back on adding a zeiss to my cabinet.

Power, I think you' d be very pleased with either. While the Zeiss is clearer and brighter due to the lens coatings used in europe, not many can argue with the Vari X III track record in the field, weight and eye relief(100% honest my Vari X III lets me see my target past legal time so I doubt it would ever cost you a shot in the field in those low light situations). BTW, in my checking the price is darn near the same for both scopes, given that it would pretty hard to say no to the Conquest. Zeiss has a name of quality optics, so I say let your eye do the talking!

oldelkhunter

I have been buying Vari-xIII' s my entire life and just picked up a 3x9x40 conquest to put on a 7 rem mag... Great optics but it is also heavier,longer OAL and has a longer mounting tube(negative in my book) on the rifle it is mounted on. The quick focus makes no difference to me because I am the one focusing it and i need to do that only once in a great while. I have a new 338 that needs a scope but I will probably go 1.75x6 Leupold because Leupolds are a proven scope and can take a beating and not sure of a Zeiss in that regard as well as most of the European scopes, thats why I mounted a conquest on the 7 mag even a Tasco can handle that recoil.

JD IN ALBERTA

My 3.5-10X44 is working well on my 7mm mag. Just getting some new loads worked up to really make it worth it' s $$$. Lovin my Zeiss so far

Power

Thanks Skeeter! I always enjoy your feedback especially.

From what I' ve heard the reticle is actually etched on the glass so you never have to worry about the crosshairs breaking or twisting due to recoil. Lifetime warranty and a name that is known around the world I figured I can' t go wrong. Still don' t have the scratch to purchase yet so I guess I' ll know for sure when I actually plop down the money. Either way I doubt I' ll be disappointed. I do like the adj. knob for parallex on the side of the turret though. Seems like a better place for it. I also like the rubber ring on the eye piece as I..../me blushes....tend to crowd the scope at times and go home slightly bloody from the range, even with a rubber eyecup on my Nikon. Hopefully the new scope has more eye relief so that won' t happen (as much).

skeeter 7MM

Power, if your looking for more eye relief than the Loopy might be your scope it has 3.6-4.6 vs the Conquest with fixed 3.5 in the eye relief department. While I haven' t had a chance to play with the Conquest enough to notice the difference, my experience has always been the Varix III has the best eye relief in it' s class.

Maybe woodseye who has experience and tested both can shed some more light on the eye relief comparision in real time to help you with your desicion. I believe the nikon 3x9x40 has the same fixed 3.5 eye relief, but not sure.

Hey just wanted to confuse and add some more FUD (Fear, Uncertainity and Doubt), GOOD LUCK!

woodseye

The 3x9 has 4" of constant ER and the rest have 3 1/2" .Measuring my 3.5x10' s from scope to eye is actually 3 3/4" or slightly more than advertised.The Leupold will have more ER at low powers but will be about like the Zeiss at higher magnification.I do prefer the constant ER as it don' t have you moving your face up and down the stock slightly with power changes as you set for ER and its the same at all powers.Leupold offers this but only on the more $ LPS model.My Zeiss scopes are holding up perfect on all my guns and I have a 6 3/4# 300WSM that pushes 180gr bullets with some fairly stiff recoil.One bad one from the factory and they dealt with it quick and to my satisfaction.I' m getting ready to sell off my 4.5x14x40 AO Vari X lll to buy a Conquest 4.5x14x44 with side AO.They just have too many great features that when combined with the superior optics make them my scope of choice and the best in their price range out there.

woods