Finally got to go to the range today and zero and spend some time behind the new EPL4...
Ok... So, what I had initially reported was that the scope appeared to get cloudy/tinted/darker when going above 16x magnification. This is SOMEWHAT true. It is not so much that it is getting darker, as it is a bluish/purple tinting that gets much worse above 16x... This is chromatic aberration. That being said, the glass is still VERY clear from 6x all the way up to 24x. You can very easily see .22LR holes at 100, and impacts at 200 without any issues at 24x. The edge-to-edge clarity is great. And the scope is light, the turrets feel great, and track true. The only real issue I see with the scope is the heavy CA above 16x that creates a very bluish/purple tint that seems to darken the image quality, but does NOT impact clarity. So, it's still very functional, and for $379 I paid for it on sale, I'm defiantly not complaining, but if the CA keeps bugging me, I might contact Arken and see if they'll shoot me out a replacement scope that has been checked for CA up to 24x. Other than that, for $400, it's a damn-nice scope. I really like the VHR reticle for hunting, and .22LR shooting, as well.
Here's a few shitty pics through my iPhone 14 Pro Max... Picture quality is high, image quality is low. This is what happens when you're attempting to take a picture with a camera, basically looking through the lenses of another camera (essentially how a scope is designed).
Like I said, it's still a VERY useable scope, and to the untrained eye, it might look amazing, but to someone who also owns alpha-tier glass, it's quite apparent the short-comings. But, it's also a $400 scope with features that were really only found on much higher-priced optics in the past. For a budget-friendly hunting scope, I could see it being a very viable option, especially for a precision .22LR or .17 HMR squirrel gun or LR rimfire target plinking or groundhogs, or varmints.
Here's 6x, 16x, and 24x... (Notice how the colors go from natural light, to slightly washed at 16x, and then the bluish/purple CA at 24x.)