Rifle Scopes “Daylight Bright” -A field test.

[hypno02]

One of the most abused terms in LPVO discussions is “daylight bright.” There’s always guys saying their optic is daylight bright, daylight visible, nuclear bright, Aimpoint bright, etc. A lot of us without firsthand experience with the optic have learned to take this with a grain of salt over the years as there’s really no clear definition whatsoever.

I’ve owned a lot of LPVO’s over the years from the lower end of the price spectrum to the higher end with a lot of rounds through some and not so many through the others.

Yesterday I was looking out my window to the W around 3:30pm and found myself squinting bc the glare of the bright sun off the snow in my front yard was almost sun-like. I figured now would be a great time to see how my new ATACR 1-8 does in what could honestly be the brightest conditions. (Ever?)

This mutated into a fly-by-night field test.

Date: 23 Oct 2020
Conditions: Bright. Zero cloud cover.
Time frame: All pictures taken from 3:45-4:00pm
Location: Eastern South Dakota
Camera: IPhone 6
Aiming direction: NW

*Camera disclaimer* The iPhone camera used for this test is not ideal for three reasons. #1 is that it auto-adjusts it’s f stop and shutter speed to always maintain ”perfect” exposure. This could/does affect how the photo reflects the actual performance of the optics. #2 is that sometimes it’s tough to get good focus on the reticle when taking through the scope pics. #3 is that the resolution is not ideal. Should have I gotten out my D7200 for this? Yes. Did I? No.

I have placed all of these optics into three different categories those of which I will define below.

1. “Nuclear bright“ For an optic to be nuclear bright it must be bright enough to use with red dot quickness utilizing a “both eyes open“ aiming technique **IN** the bright October 23 conditions the pictures were taken.

2. “Daylight bright” For an optic to be daylight bright it must be able to be bright enough to be used with red dot quickness utilizing a both eyes open aiming technique **IN** any conditions that are as not as extreme as October 23rd’s conditions.

3. ”Daylight visible” For an optic to be considered daylight visible the illumination must be visible on its highest setting. Although visible the user cannot utilize the illumination alone for both eyes open shooting with red dot quickness.

I will add a few optics to the list that I do not currently own or do but didn’t get pictures of that I can confidently categorize. These will be bracketed []

Remember I’m just a dude who likes to shoot and train with these optics. I’m not an optics professional and I have no bias positive or negative towards any of the manufacturers of these optics. They are listed under their respective categories in no particular order.

***Nuclear Bright***
1. EO Tech EXPS 3-0 (Hands down the brightest illumination of any optic I’ve ever seen)
2. Trijicon RMR Type 2 3.25moa RM06
3. Holosun HS403B
4. Leupold Deltapoint Pro 7.5moa Triangle
5. [Nightforce NX8 1-8]

*Priorly owned that fits under Nuclear or Daylight but my recollection is not good enough to confidently place in the October 23 conditions*
1. [Trijicon ACOG TA02 4x LED Horseshoe]
2. [Burris XTR2 1-5]
3. [Burris XTR2 1.5-8]
4. [Trijicon ACOG TA110 3.5x LED]
5. [Leupold Mk8 1.1-8 H27]

***Daylight Bright***
1. Leupold Mk6 1-6
2. Nightforce ATACR F1 1-8 (I wish NF would have extended the reticle posts all the way to the 3,6, And 9oclock Edges of the sight picture like the mk6)
3. Steiner P4xi 1-4 (Very good reticle for no-illum shooting)
4. [Vortex Razor G2 1-6](Very good reticle for no-illum shooting)
5. [Vortex Razor G3 1-10 (Very poor reticle for no-illum shooting)
6. [Swarovski Z6i 1-6]

***Daylight Visible***
1. [EO Tech Vudu 1-6] (Very good reticle for no-illum shooting)
2. [Trijicon Credo 1-6] (Very good reticle for no-illum shooting)
3. [Nightforce NXS 1-4] (barely)
4. [Leupold Mk8 1.1-8 TMR-D] (All around terrible reticle)
5. [Leupold Mk4 1.5-5] (barely)

I‘ll continue to add to these lists as I remember more past optics and if any new ones make their way into my hands. I will also add more pictures if I feel as if I can replicate Oct 23rd’s conditions before the snow melts in the spring.


The LPVO‘s get two pictures apiece on 1x. One picture with the illumination on its highest setting and one with it off. The red dots get one.

Nightforce ATACR 1-8

Steiner P4xi 1-4

EO Tech EXPS 3-0

Holosun HS403R

Trijicon RMR RM06 type2 3.5moa

Deltapoint Pro 7.5moa triangle

Leupold Mk6 1-6