I'm trying to have this make sense I'm my brain.but it feels scrambled lol
Sorry that message was a bit cryptic.
I didn't hate the Helos reticle, and certainly didn't find the centre dot so large that it was unusable, but the reticle was far from perfect.
Heres my take on the reticle (for what it's worth).
The reticle needs to be thought of in two different ways, visibility features on low mag (2-4x ish) and usability features at high magnification (8-12x).
Low mag visibility features are (or could be):
-2mil "ring of death"
-large 0.3mil centre dot
-thicker 0.08mil centre stadia thickness
-outer stadia thickness/distance from centre
-illumination
The 2mil ring of death is what makes this reticle so easy to use on 2x, presumably you will be shooting at a fairly close or fairly large target if using 2x-3x, so the ring of death is what you end up using as your aiming point.
The large centre dot is actually visible on 2x and could be used as a finer aiming point if shooting a smaller target, but the 0.08mil centre stadia is more than thick enough to see on 2x, the PST G1 reticle is only 0.06mil thick and is fairly easy to see on 2.5x, so I'd have just extended those line a little closer to the centre which would negate the need for the large centre dot.
I don't like the whole tree being illuminated, it destroys too much of your night vision (if using in low light) and IMO is too distraction being fully lit, I'd prefer to only light the ring of death and the centre cross that's within the ring, so 2mils each direction or at least not the entire tree.
I potentially would bring the thick outer stadia into the 5mil mark and make them even thicker (like the SWFA Milquad) but that may not be necessary.
High mag usability features are (or could be):
-a fine centre aiming point
-a main cross hair that doesn't obscure the target but has enough information to be useful
-a tree that is fit for purpose (eg not H59)
The 0.3mil centre dot is too large for ultimate precision, I wouldn't want to see a tiny one, but 0.05 or 0.06mil would probably be about right, or you could also do it 0.15mil to match the tree dot size.
The wind holds not starting until 1mil is annoying (other reticles do this too), I'd have bought it in to start at .5mil.
The tree and main cross is fine for the most part, I'd like to see the numbers on both sides of the tree (I'm actually a heathen who prefers number on the centre stadia rather than outside of the tree), would also like to see more number on the horizontal cross for easier wind holds.
TLDR; I don't hate the reticle but I'd definitely like to see some changes if they were to put it in a more expensive scope.
Most of the features I've described exist in other reticles (many that you've reviewed) but bringing them all together appears to be the difficult part.
I know that you are fairly passionate about the whole MPVO concept, so here's my thesis about MPVO reticle design.
