I think ILya sets expectations accordingly in post #208 above. Of course no one really knew what these scopes would be, exactly what line they would be part of. Nothing wrong with this line (Viper HD) and as plenty of others have mentioned this is definitely more of a hunting oriented line, the 5-25x50 FFP could be considered a crossover of sorts, but is not the crossover that I think many would like; that's okay, that's not what this line is. The Vortex AMG 6-24x50 is one of the best examples of a well thought out crossover design for long range shooters, but not necessarily for game hunters who also want to ring steel at the range as 6x at the bottom was just too much for most. I've been a proponent of the 3.5-18 and even 4-20 range for quite some time and still think this would appeal more to the "crossover" scope that many of us would like to see. But don't just make a 3.5-18x50 with an EBR-7D reticle, in order to be "the" crossover scope it needs to have a reticle that works at bottom mag - is it usable to take a shot at a pig running 50' away from us, how about a 'yote crossing the road 93 yards away with a quick gait, and then that prize buck pops his head out at 537 yards down the meadow and then out at the range I want to ring those steel plates from 300-1200 yards away. Thus far, most manufacturers have given us their popular long range tree reticle along with some pretty bright illumination, but this has been a stop gap in many ways - it is a Band-Aid and not the solution, for me personally, a "real" crossover scope must be lighter in weight (definitely under 30oz), offer 4x at the bottom at minimum, must be FFP or dual focal plane, offer wide FOV, offer bright illumination, keep the erector around 5x with a somewhat compact design but not so short it compromises forgiveness with eyebox, DOF and parallax (too much), but most importantly offer an mrad reticle that works for above type scenarios at bottom mag and have a well thought out hash reticle for upper mag ranges (offer both tree and no tree options). Whether it be a "circle of death" type of design or even some type of horseshoe type design drawn from the LPVO world but without being so thick that it obscures the view too much at higher mags. My personal preference is that this niche be addressed in the mid to upper class range first, something from Japan or Germany with really good glass. Many manufacturers have answered this by saying - "oh, you want an SFP scope" but we don't, and that's what they don't understand because when we're using our custom built big game rifle to ring steel or using it in a NRL Hunter style match, we need FFP. We need a scope that bridges the gap between both worlds and there are a number of scopes that "get close" but "not quite there". Is it a risk for a manufacturer, absolutely, but sometimes it's worth taking the risk and I think there's a decent market for this type of scope, but my thoughts don't really matter in the end, it's the collective thoughts of an entire community that will help the right mfr to realize the ROI on such a design is worth the effort. Who will answer this call?
with .2 and .5 windage marks but 10mil is a little much considering its a 6mil per rev turret
