How do you feel about the reported tight eye-box on the NX8 ? I have never looked true one but more then a couple shooters have complained about it.The NX8 looks like a sweet little scope that i would love to put on a 10/22 rifle but i just can not deal with an unforgiven eye-box.
I think the tight eye box issue is a bit overblown. Compared to the Kahles below the NX8 quite clearly has a tighter eye box. But they are two different scopes that I use for different purposes and I'll explain that below.
The OP asked about a 1-8 from the bench. As a number of folks pointed out, from a bench there are better choices. I agree.
The Kahles is SFP, has fantastic glass, a huge eye box, a simple BDC reticle with illumination that lights up well in bright sunlight. It is lightweight, the throw lever is silky smooth, and is of the sort of quality we all expect from Khales. I cannot find any fault in this scope and I love it.
I use the Kahles for 3G, which for me is limited to 300 yards, though usually 200. The large eye box with illumination is red-dot like (fast) on hoser stages. The reticle makes things fairly easy for holds to 300. The somewhat fine crosshairs make 1 MOA targets at 100yds a piece of cake.
I cannot think of one thing more I could ask for in a 3G scope. This would also work well for hunting.
The NX8 is FFP, has good glass, a tighter eye box than the Kahles, a mil reticle with a dot center. Illumination, at it's brightest setting, is volcanic. At this point it is clear we are talking about 2 different animals.
This is not a precision rifle scope at any distance. It is a compromise. At 1x it can function as a red dot just fine, though not as well as the Kahles. At 100 yards the Kahles has the advantage of those fine crosshairs, if you are shooting at small targets. Shooting at steel makes no difference to me. As distance grows the NX8 gains the advantage, especially beyond 300 and at 500+ it is night and day difference. First, with the NX8 you have the advantage of holdovers and wind holds, then you can dial if necessary.
For dialing the NX8 and dealing with that center dot I have adopted a technique from my service rifle days that works very well. Flip around the classic "flat tire" hold by using the center dot as the x-ring and A/B steel as the front post. If you are not familiar with this a link is below. Or I can just hold (at any magnification).
Sight Picture Primer
For me the NX8 is superior for run-n-gun type matches where you may have alternating shots between 50 and 600 yard targets.
If I need to hose down not-too-far-away targets that may appear at any point on the compass the Khales is definitely faster.
This is why we
need so many scope and rifles.
