Arken EP5 7- 35 .. Standing in for some Alpha Glass

#351
Today at work a coworker told me about this new scope company called Arken.
He said “on sale for $399. They are so awesome and are every bit as good as the expensive scopes.”
I said “I don’t believe that.”
Then he told me he saw the YouTuber say so in a video. And the YouTuber also had a discount on em.
So I called the YouTuber a shill.

Am I wrong?
 
#354
Oh boy... Where to begin... Which YouTube shill was it? Was it Tardasaurus Rex, One-Eyed Willie, mullet dude, or Hackfire? 😂

Also, if you're curious... Skip the Arken altogether, and just get the new DNT 7-35x56 TOR... I've had 5 Arkens, and won't buy another one. I would absolutely buy another one of these DNT scope for $600, and several other unbiased guys on here who, were skeptical like me and also have high-end glass, agree with that assessment. Like @Rob01 and even @Lowlight says it impressed him for the price.

 
#355
Sadly enough I have now had two Arken EP-5's in my possession and neither one are gonna make the cut. Never even mounted them onto a rifle because I was extremely skeptical and turns out that my suspicions are true. I will be sending this back in an attempt to get my $$$ back and buy something a little farther up the food chain.
 
#356
I’m sure they are acceptable for the price. Then again I kinda hate that statement sometimes. Sometimes people sayin “for the price” is justification for it being junk.

I’ve had several scope failures in my short life, not life threatening, but annoying. So now i only have reliable scopes that cost a bit more than $399.

Based on what some of y’all are saying I’m not against considering a dnt, IF i could try before i buy. I’m sure they are good for the price. 😀
 
#363
Are you going to elaborate on that a bit or are just here to talk shit on Arken? What were your suspicions? Why didn't they make the cut? What do you feel is a reasonable upgrade without jumping up to $1k+ glass?
 
#365
After seeing so many "alpha" tier scopes fail various use tests I really started to reconsider what provided value in an optics purchase. It would be hard to stomach a catastrophic failure after dropping $4k on some glass...doesn't hurt as much on a $500 optic lol
 
#366
maybe it's possible, I got a vortex 5-25 venom and it's a sweet little scope for 400$ imo.
Yes Doug is a cool cat, I bought some alpha scopes off him, pleasure to do business with.
 
#367
Sure I don't mind to elaborate. Scope shadow appears as a purple/blue color instead of black and when I move my head slightly up and down to check and adjust parallax it looks like the magnification is changing. Screws with my vision something serious. That was my suspicion when i purchased it was that the optical clarity wouldn't be any different than the other scopes that I have in the same category. I'll say this though, if it works for you then great. Doesn't work for me. Glad we can all have a difference of opinions. When i was slightly younger and my vision was slightly different then it might not have been a problem. Maybe it would. Idk. I have one scope that cost more than $500 and that is not the scope i was comparing the arken to. I was comparing it to a vortex viper hst 6-24x50 that I've had for quite a while. I don't want to spend $1k+ on an optic so Idk what I'm gonna do. Apparently from what I hear I'm the first out of all the arken customers who have had the issue that I have with arken so thankfully there are a bunch of happy customers out there.
 
#368
Doug at CameraLand had some good things to say concerning Arken. Pursuant to a question I asked concerning best sellers, he said one was Arken. He DID NOT say that there wasn’t better glass or better scopes. DID indicate that you got a lot for your money.
 
#372
Yeah, late to the party on this one...then again I don't run Arkens. Might try the DNT on one of my 22's if it gets even a bit of love from this group. Tough crowd, but that's good...
 
#375
Well....I originally started this thread when some of my S&B scopes ( 6-36 and 10-60 ) failed and had to be sent back to Germany for repair ( again!).

Fast forward to today..... 6-36 on Desert Tech 338 Lap ...19 rounds and all of a sudden various debi appears in the scope!!
On more shots....even more debri!!!.... including what looks like a hair.

Yep "Alpha" glass...for sure.
At this rate the S&B,s will of spent more time in transit for repair than in use.
 
#379
As I have previously stated....every time an S&B goes back for repair....it's around a 3 month affair.
If....and if the DNT or Arken shits itself , I ring my dealer...he sends me a new one and I have it a day or so latter..
 
#380
Considering the amount of issues with scopes you unfortunately have. What are the failure rates of different brands/models? Be interesting to have a thread for those with multiples of each scope to get a gauge of potential rates across different types of firearms.
 
#381
Straight off the bat ... Nightforce and Tangent have been 100% bulletproof ...never an issue. !!

S&B is so so frustrating as the Glass is just superb!! ( new series)
Just got a NEW S&B 5-45 High Power back and the glass is staggeringly good ! Just hope its not cursed like the new series ...ie 6-36 and 10-60,s .
 
#383

What I meant is exact numbers of failed scopes vs same model/brand you own.

Claimed warranty cost is usually higher then the margin on actual products, so what I am trying to work out is if failure rates you are seeing are the norm, these company’s would be in net loss position for those models affected. And if it isn’t the industry norm for those models, what is root cause for you seeing all these failures. Isn’t a slap on you, trying to work out what actually is the norm.
 
#388
What's interesting is talking to dealers i know and trust.... the failure rate of some optic brands is surprising !!! Some you would expect , and some you would NOT expect.

Some dealers here i know personally have on offer most brands ranging from budget to High End ... if the customer insists they want brand "x" then that's what they will supply , but at the same time will give the customer their honest view of the optic whether it be favourable or not.
 
#389
ZCO's were having issues with objective lenses cracking a while back. They (and all the fanboys) tried to keep it hush-hush, but truth got out. LOL I think they've since corrected the issue, but there's still probably plenty of them out there that haven't been used much, just waiting to bust.
 
#396
I thought there was a scope mount linked to several brands of scopes and binding parallax issues.

What’s that saying about if everyone you meet is an asshole?

Just going off what i VAGUELY remember reading around here
 
#397
now as for the S&B having issues, I believe it. I have a friend/neighbor mark with a pm2, very old, already went down a couple times on him. some turrets issue, shipping to and from took forever, basically a cautionary tale against German scopes. Kahles same thing.
 
#398
Don’t know the guy, but I would imagine @wooferocau runs into more scope problems than regular folks because he shoots a 50bmg. 🤷‍♂️

Here I am with a 204 and 6br lol.

Both he and @FuhQ have sorta similar “enthusiastic” writing styles that can polarize folks. I try to cut through that and look at the core bit they are trying to communicate.
 
#399
Many scopes i have used were trouble free on smaller calibre rifles...one of my all time favourites and one i thought i would have forever...the March Genesis..

Genesis ...fantastic optic in both optical properties and ELR application ...all good on the 6.5CM and such...BUT first outing on the 50 all 4 scopes failed!! :cry:
 
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