I’m an Element dealer and have a couple of these Nexus gen II’s coming soon. Looking forward to checking them out. I absolutely love the Theos.
I bought 4 more of the Element Theos 6-36x56 scopes after checking out the first one I bought and compared it side by side to my Vortex Razor Gen 3.
I really like how light the Theos is at 36.5oz around the same weight as an Athlon Ares ETR 4-5-30x56 and Meopta Optika 6 5-30x56 and a just hair more than the Athlon BTR Gen 2.
I was totally skeptical at first after being totally unimpressed with the former top of the line Element Nexus 5-20x50 with chromatic aberration on high magnification (it's only a 20x and it's chromatic aberration really bothered me) and their lower end Chinese ones were very underwhelming for the prices they charged and the Chinese Athlon Midas Tac 6-24x50 and Ares BTR Gen 2 4.5-27x50 I like a heck of a lot better due to their night and day superior glass and turrets.
Now back to the Element Theos, very few scopes give me any WOW FACTOR when I first look through them and the Theos really blew me away and had to compare it to my razor 3 and they were almost neck and neck in sheet optical clarity and brightness and the Theos looked a tad brighter on it's maximum 36x magnification. I then brought out my top of the line USA made (well at least probably assembled in the USA LOL) Leupold SX5 Santiam spotting scope and the image quality was similar believe it or not. Now as a reference, the Leupold Santiam BX5 is clearer than my older $3000 Swarovski ST-80 according to my own eyes when both compared on their upper mid to their maximum magnification 55x vs 60x.
The turrets on the Theos felt better than the Razor 3 and has 12MILs per revolution like my Burris XTR PRO (The Theos literally smokes my Burris XTR Pro and my new Athlon Cronus BTR Gen 2) and has a unique proprietary second rotation indicator horizontal side flipping lever to let you know easily at a quick glance you're on the second rotation.
Best of all the Theos has a totally totally totally tool less zero stop you can easily adjust on the fly anytime within only a few seconds or less. It's just like when you adjust your (OTHER BRAND SCOPE) turret to the (0) mark that's it, your zero stop is set too and automatically goes to 0.5 MILs below your zero set with the Theos and assuming the Nexus Gen 2 is the same tool less everything. This Theos scope is totally totally totally the most idiot proof scope that I know of.
I already ordered 4 Burris Signature XTR 34mm rings for them and await their arrival, however I need to buy another set of those Signature XTR 34mm rings since I just ordered another one of these Theos scopes making it 5 of them total (FOR NOW).
It's also night and day clearer than my Tract Toric ELR 4.5-30x50 there's absolutely no comparison right there and it literally smokes that one silly too. They may look similar in color but they are not exactly the same shade of grey.
Customer service at Element Optics first hand experience WAS non existant over the past 2-3 weeks I contacted them to inquire about the Theos HELL I bought 4 anyway even before they acknowledged my non essential existence. They finally contact me TODAY and answered all my tons and tons of warranty questions including their electronics and was assured it's lifetime like the Vortex warranty including their electronics and no proof of purchase receipt needed even if you're the second third or fourth owner they got you covered. I don't thinks they will replace it for a brand spanking new one if you use as a hammer like Vortex would though.
I didn't receive any free scope from Element Optics nor did they even acknowledge my existence until today and after I had already bought my first Theos scope followed by 3 more then one more today paid with my own money and didn't get them for free nor half price like their shills and influencers get to buy them for. I didn't pay full retail for them either and not that stupid to pay full price even though this one might very well be actually worth paying $2799.99 for by the folks more fortunate than me who don't even bother to look and shop around for the best possible prices to buy and only when they have a fantastic sale.
I only speak regarding the Element Optics Theos and would rather buy two more of these Theos over the Nexus Gen 2 even if the Nexus Gen 2 is cheaper. After checking out their 5-20x50 and disappointed the new Gen2 looks like the same size housing and boosted the magnification and made it a 6x over the 4x so I don't want to chance it and rather buy another Nightforce NX8 DEMO 4-32x50 for the same money on sale and no ways the Nexus Gen 2 can equal the Nightforce NX8 period the end Nightforce goes to 32x as a bonus so you ain't maxing it out at 25x like the Nexus Gen 2. JMO though it's a really down to earth educated guess actually owning an NX8 which is also lighter weight compared to the Nexus Gen 2.
It does have totally totally totally tool less zero stop supposedly identical to the Theos layout but I highly doubt the glass is gonna be nearly as good as the much much much cheaper Athlon Ares BTR Gen 2 4.5-27x50 surprisingly still on sale at Walmart online for only $565.49 with free shipping and free returns within 90 days totally totally totally risk free to try one or up to twelve of them for yourself. If you need to order more than twelve they won't let you. I already tried. Need to wait and do another order at a later date or have someone else order more for me. These Athlon Ares BTR Gen 2s are THAT AWESOME (IMHO) having several Theos and majority Ares BTR Gen 2s (but I ly at the current sale price not at their regular $869.99 price and no way do not buy when they go back up to regular prices) I can really be content with these 2 scopes believe it or not and couple of Vortex Razor Gen 3's in case we go to war and I need extremely durable scopes.
Gen 3 Razor has almost as simple almost tool less zero stop like the Theos but has a very fine in between adjustment for ultra fine zero and rezero with a dial in to and one external set screw to stop the stop.
Don't have the Zeiss LRP S3 version but I know it is old fashioned style zeroing with more screws to unscrew compared to the Theos and Razor Gen 3 which are most definitely noticeably modernized by comparison. I told one of my shooting buddies order one to compare to my Theos and Razor Gen 3 but only buy from a risk free returns place like Midway or Optics Planet or Amazon better yet if it's at Walmart online we got a whole 90 days since it's definitely gonna be returned for refund so the next buyers get a DEMO sale for our returns again and again the subsequent buyers should really thank us for this.
I'm really on the fence about buying the Tract Toric ELR 4-25x50 now because the Theos is lighter and no way JOSE the glass would be able to touch the Theos anyway and probably can't touch the Athlon Ares BTR Gen 2 glass either. I already own the top of the line Toric 4.5-30x56 ELR and as stated, the Theos smokes it silly optically and the apparent to your eyeball FOV is ridiculously wider than the Tract Toric ELR, Athlon Cronus BTR Gen 2,Ares ETR, Trijicon Tenmile, Meopta Optika 6, Delta Stryker and Titanium and very close to the Razor 3.
DLO Koshkin was right about the Theos and Mike at Panther Hollow said the Theos to his eyes is clearer than his Vortex Razor Gen 3. They are really close in optical superiority and unless you got them both side by side I bet you won't notice the difference.
Buy the Theos and don't look back.
Element Optics should really do a 30 day money back guarantee like how Tract and Arken does since I know most won't even think about returning it once they check one out for themselves and even after comparing it to their G3 Razors.