bigcountry

Wow, I am at a crossroads at buying a scope. I can't believe it has come to this. But I was going to get a Ziess Conquest or Leupold III 4.5-14X40mm for a 7mm-08 I got. But I have spent so much flow lately on guns and motorcycles, and my house, I figured I would sell my 300RUM and get these items. Actually need two scopes, one for my 7mm08 and one for my 45-70.

Ok. So I am evaluating optics and come across the Elite series. I compare the 4200's to the Ziess and Leupolds. I do my light gathering test looking into a space for transmission. I do all my other things standard in evaluating a scope. Man I tell you the 4200 is a crisp clear, bright scope. Ok for the sake of saving some funds, I consider the 2.5-10 or the 4-16 with AO. I can get a few for almost half the competitors and the 7mm-08 won't have any kick to it as its a heavy barrel gun.

So has anyone had the 4200 series. Most everyone Iknow saves more doe and goes with the 3200. And results have been kinda mixed so far. 80% of the people love them, but 20% or less has had problems on fogging and heavy recoil guns.

Also the 4200 series are heavy, and long, I mean the 4-16 is almost 19 oz compared to 14.5 of a 4.5-14 and almost 2" longer than the leupold.

Rebel Hog

BC, I know you like that FireFly reticle. Don't they run $450 to $500?

bigcountry

There is place I can get factory demos for 289 for the 2.5-10 and 366 for the 4-16. Thats without the firefly thing. I am not too keen on that flashlight thing they got going on.

for me to get a Ziess Conquest 4.5-14X44mm with AO, it will run $579.00 best I can do.

gopher slayer

my cousin looked at the 3200 and the guy at the store showed him a leupold rifleman and there want much compairison the leupold didnt fog up like 3200 did. but Ive read very good things about the 4200.

skeeter 7MM

bc, I have both and the 4200 is just better in optical performance it has not proven any better interms of function, durability or reliability IME. Now they(bushnell) do or did state it is tested for recoil at 10x that of the 3200 but having mounted both on rifles from varmit to the largest being a 300 wby mag, they never had a stitch of troubles. The only flaws is ER, weight, length of the elite series. So only you can deciede if they will suffice or not. In my case the ER never caused me any grief but the weight/length thing did. $289 for the 4200 2.5x10x40 is an awesome price and pretty hard to say nay to unless those flaws become to big to over look but the 4200 holds very well against the upper scopes you mentioned in terms of optic performance.

BTW I now have 2 Zeiss Conquests topping my 2 main hunting rifles (7mm rem mag and 50 cal inline)..love em in every regard.

Good Luck

charlie brown

Geee...

This sounds like a topic that would fit real nice in the OPTICS forum!!!

Sorry bigcountry, but I don't have any advice for the scopes though, just had to try and stir the pot to get an optics forum going!!

bigcountry

Well, I might go ahead and give it a try. But dad gone 18.9oz is heavy compared to all the rest.

I have evaluated both the 3-9 Rifleman and the elite 3200 3-9, and the elite is the winner hands down. My brother loves them both. The Rifleman's optics have alot of glare, but for his 204, it worked out real nice.

Both did fail my fog test. I ordered them both last year for my brother. Both were sitting outside from delivery for a good amount of time in 15 degree weather. I took them in where it was like 75 and both fogged up for a few min. All my 5 or so Vari X III's I have had, a few vari-X II, and the one VXII I have passed this with flying colors.

But maybe thats an unfair test? Should be the other way around, heat up inside and take out in cold damp weather.

Jeff Ovington

Big Country
I think the fog test you did is more than fair.
If these companies want to claim their products fog proof and waterproof
than they should be just that no matter what test is done.
If it is nitrogen purged and O-ring sealed properly, it won't leak.
You should be able to soak it in a creek and let it air dry and it should be fine.
You should be able to throw it in freezer and then let it bake in the sun and it should not fog up and the opposite should hold true as well.
That is a great test you did I'm going to try that on my next scope purchase as well.

oldelkhunter

I should know better then to argue optics with you but here goes. I am presuming you mean the scope fogged on the outside and not the inside. If you mean outside of the scope i fogged up every scope I ever owned whether Leupold or whatever on really cold days because I breathed on it when I brought the rifle up. From what I am told having Rainguard on the lense coatings circumvents this. I think both scope lines(3200 and 4200) have outstanding optics but the 4200 get a little clunky for my tastes ie: too long and too heavy but they are a very good value in spite of that and they have top notch glass.

Superpig

Bigcountry,
I have the 4200 Elite in 2.5-10X40 w/silver finish. I like you was in the same position. On other rifles I have a Leupold Vari-X III 3.5-10X50AO, Swarowski 3-9X36, Leupold Vari-X II 3-9X40, Bushnell Trophy 3-9X40.

You've noticed the same drawbacks that I noticed, increased weight and overall length is a bit more. However, I did purchase the scope and mounted it on my 257 Roberts. This rifle is very accurate with a particular handload and being the way I am I did the box test with the scope at 100 yards. The windage and elevation adjustments on my scope are positive and precise. Before buying this scope I also took a hard look at the Zeiss Conquest and chose to save $150 and buy the Bushnell. It has been 2 years now and I'm still satisfied with my purchase. I will be buying another Elite shortly to replace the old Trophy model I have on my Muzzleloader. One other point is that the Zeiss has 4" of constant eye relief and the Elite has 3.25". My best friend was so impressed with this scope when he bought a new 300 WSM he also put an Elite 4200 on his. So far he is very happy with his scope. I hope this helps out.