Well I will say it. I hate the Hawke Sidewinder. Trust me, you will not be happy with the cost to quality ratio of Hawke, especially the Sidewinder. I have both the Sidewinder and the Frontier. The Frontier appears to be a good scope, but it’s not an $800 scope as it’s priced. The best part of the Frontier is the weight at 22oz. This is class leading for the magnification specs. The quality is that of a $600-$700, not $900. The Sidewinder is almost useless with its poor glass and terrible turrets. The discovery VT3 is a much better scope and only $225.
I have had experience with so many scopes I lost count and Hawke is the first scope company to were I was surprised what I got for the price in a bad way. Usually you know going in that it will be what it is for the price.
For the price of the Hawke Sidewinder is a terrible buy. I would buy the Element Helix day in and day out for the same price. I own a Meopta Optika6, Viper PST Gen2, and a Elememt Titan in the $700-$800 dollar class currently and these are all better imho than even the Frontier although heavier by 6-8oz, which is Hawke's best scope at $800 (on sale). If you’re ok with non illuminated you can’t go wrong with Element Helix at 26oz or US Optics TS12 at 18oz at about $400ish over the same price Sidewinder. Things only get worse for Hawke below the Sidewinder class. If you go Hawke stick with Frontier or nothing.
