Why I hate Leupold

[Yeah]

Vortex is all right, a lot of bang for the buck. Sightron is similar, and they make some solid hunting scopes as well.

What neither of them nor anyone else seems to be able to do is compete with this Leupold. That goes double if you add $100 for an M1 elevation turret. Leupold's 3.5-10 isn't far behind either.

At this point though, I pass on everything else they offer.

 

[Meister]

i own several vortex scopes and would put them up against ANY leupold of equal cost any day of the week anytime of the year any place on the planet.

I wouldn't even try to argue with that. Very true.

 

[straight-shooter]

I buy scopes exclusively from Mueller Optics. Basically, take their price and double it to figure out what level of optic you're getting.

+1 - I've found Mueller scopes to be quite outstanding in both gathering light and staying on zero. I own three and am about to purchase another.

 

[kwatters]

Natchez has a Nikon 1.65-5x36 Omega muzzleloader scope on closeout for $99 right now. I have one on my .44 mag rifle and another on my 20 gauge shotgun. They hold up and have never lost zero.
Very clear in low light, I took a Leupold off my shotgun for this scope and the difference was amazing.

No they don't.

I have 20-10 vision and excellent night vision and I missed taking two shots this year in deep woods on overcast days in the middle of the day because I couldn't see the deer clearly enough. These were well under a hundred yards using a Leupold 1-4x20 shotgun scope on my .458 socom.

It's getting replaced with a 2-7xsomething (probably 33) next year.

The scope was fine while I was sighting it in, but not good enough to resolve branches or brush between me and the deer under those conditions. Someone with worse eyesight than mine will have even more trouble.

 

[dross]

that paticular leupold will fall in the "tough luck" category of leupolds warrenty. .

Could you say more about this?

 

[42769vette]

i get ask this alot and figured id type it once and be able to link a thread. some opinions may vary and this is my experiance.

i have delt with the leupold company 4 times in my life and never even remotley been happy with my service.

in 1999 (pre internet research) i found out i was going elk hunting. i was stoked. i went to the local outdoors shop who i had delt with my entire life and trusted. i told them i dont know much about rifles or scopes. i told them " i want the best of both" my father and i left with 2 weatherby rifles and 2 leupold vxIII 4.5-14x50 scopes. went hunting killed a elk mid day great time great trip.

i get home dad puts his leupold on his muzzloader. i had a simmons whitetail classic on my muzzeloader. we when hunting and i shot a doe in the spine, dropped her right at dusk but needed to finish her. since dads gun needed fired that night anyways i decided to finish her with his gun. i looked threw his leupold and had absolutly no shooting light on 4.5x out of a 50mm obj. i reloaded my gun and on 6.5x out of a 50mm simmons i could see fine. i finished her went home. the next day i compared my leupold to his and both to the simmons. the simmons drew light much better than both leupolds.

i contacted customer service and sent both scopes in. a few weeks later i got the scopes back with a letter stating "nothing done both scopes meet our standards". im not ok with paying leupold prices for standards that are lower than simmons.

fast forward a few years. i bought a leupold rx series 750 yd rangefinder needing a range finder for 750 yds. the best range i ever got was out of 400 yds in perfect conditions. i decided it was my fault and i should have bought extra rangefinder from the get go. i bought the 1200 yd version of the same rangefinder. with it my best range to date is 600. this was ranging a truck on a bright sunny day off a tripod. then my buddy (indygunworks) pulls out his bushnell and ranges 750 no problem. pissed is a understatement. i contacted leupold cs again went threw the same process and got the same letter.

Could you say more about this?

this is my experiance with leupolds customers service. basically if you spend 1500 bucks on a top of the line scope they will help you if you have i issue. if you dont by the top of there line they tell you "tough luck". the optic your looking at falls into the " tough luck" portian of there warrenty. this is why i love vortex. they have the exact same warrenty on every optic from 100 dollars to 2000 dollars. basically if its not right for any reason your fault or theirs, first owner or 50th they replace it for free. if you buy a vortex scope used and get it home and run it over with a dump truck or do somthing else complety your fault they will replace it no questions ask.

im so confident in there warrenty ill take returns out of my inventory. its only happened once. i sold a sparc to a ingo member (chaz) a month or so ago. it wouldn't turn off. i gave him a diffrent scope out of my inventory and i delt with vortex. i had the replacement in 3 business days. the longest ive ever heard of it taking is 7 business days