Reticle $

[johnwoitalla]

It seems illuminated reticles are all the rage nowadays. I suspect a lot of manufacturers are putting a lot of advertising $ into making the the illuminated reticles a major selling point on their scopes. For example, in looking at the choices for reticles with the Titan line of Element scopes at one major online retailer, there are no choices for non-illuminated reticles. That makes me wonder if the price jump from the Helix to the Titan level is really just selling bells and whistles and not really much of a jump in quality for an extra $300 to $400. I think Element makes decent scopes. But just like so many other manufacturers, they have to have multi levels of quality and ever bigger objectives and shiny glowing ultra busy Christmas trees!

 

[JaceSpace1369]

@johnwoitalla Vector Taurus 4-24x50 is a super clear scope, with a nice red dot on cloudy and overcast days, or when shooting in the dark. It has 6 settings with intermittent off click between each one. And it only illuminates the center dot.

 

[Uglyjohn]

As 90+% of my shooting is in dark wooded places, IR is a must have. Maybe an age related thing but loosing sight of the reticle on a dark target is beyond frustrating. Uj

 

[synergy4]

As 90+% of my shooting is in dark wooded places, IR is a must have. Maybe an age related thing but loosing sight of the reticle on a dark target is beyond frustrating. Uj

never thought about that, but have lost the cross hairs multiple times in the woods, and it takes a few seconds to reset to focus on the target again

 

[JimD]

Depends on how fine the reticle is to me. My Primary Arms 4-14 has a nice thick reticle and I have never wanted to illuminate it. My my Vector Veyron and Arken EPL-4 have fine reticles and IR is very nice to have for low light. The lens seem a little small on the Veyron but that is probably part of having a short light scope.

 

[steve123]

You save some money going without illumination, like most of the Athlon Midas TAC line.

Though if at all possible I prefer true daylight bright illume, which is not common in most scopes. The Athlon Cronus G2 4.5-29×56 has it.

Have and not need vs need and not have. I'm recalling three separate occasions when I needed it and was able to use it.

AND a lot more times than that when I needed one step higher illumination but the other scope was as high as it would go.

Illumination makes a scope more versatile.

 

[MongooseV8]

My brush walker pcps are illuminated for the exact reason posted above.

My daytime only slug monster pcp has a non-illuminated Helix on it. If you can get away without it, you will save some money and weight and get a little better image quality.

 

[JEFFPPC]

My wife shooting target only never shoots without hers turned on, and she shoots better than most men. I never turn them on, don't like the image. But thinking one would be good for a deer gun a few years back I bought a Leupold with an illuminated dot and put it on a .257Ruger #1 International. In 4 first days I shot 3 bucks. All the days were early in the morning, 2 of them rainy with dark and heavy follage. Never turned the dot on but thought sbout it as the gun cracked alltthree times. Deer all fell dead, I guess they are just too hi- tech for an old guy, lol.

 

[Gerry52]

9+ years shooting airguns, probably had 6 different scopes with IR, have NEVER used it & I only hunt. YMMV.

 

[357cal]

Not all the scopes I have bought were illuminated but as a hunter I think it's a great option, cloudy days or in the woods or even at night with a green or red light. I have since moved on to digital day/night scopes for many reasons.

 

[johnwoitalla]

My wife shooting target only never shoots without hers turned on, and she shoots better than most men. I never turn them on, don't like the image. But thinking one would be good for a deer gun a few years back I bought a Leupold with an illuminated dot and put it on a .257Ruger #1 International. In 4 first days I shot 3 bucks. All the days were early in the morning, 2 of them rainy with dark and heavy follage. Never turned the dot on but thought sbout it as the gun cracked alltthree times. Deer all fell dead, I guess they are just too hi- tech for an old guy, lol.

"Gun cracked all three times"...I don't know what that means.

 

[L.Leon]

"Gun cracked all three times"...I don't know what that means.

Crack, crack, crack, barked his gun… “crack shot” as opposed to a crap shot… I like the option of a IR, I use it as necessary…

 

[JEFFPPC]

"Gun cracked all three times"...I don't know what that means.

Stocked cracked in half, barrel cracked down the middle, and the lenses cracked. I thought it was obvious. Can't help you more than that.