Leupold Mark 8 M5C2 Opinions

[Cswedeen]

Hey all,
Looking for info and any user experience on the more recent 3.5-25 variant of these with the upgraded turrets and no illum. Specifically tremor 3 reticle. Not much out there by way of reviews, with a few stating the glass is superior to the mk5hd. I have a 3.6-18 illum tmr mk5 but looking for something with more magnification. At the msrp it is obviously not a good value, but if one were to show up around the $2k mark it might be tempting, especially with the edge in mag range over the 5-25 Mk5.

I know there is not much love lost for Leupold here, but I’ve had good luck with my mk5 and wondering if the updated mk8 might be a hidden gem at the right price.

 

[Glassaholic]

They were pretty revolutionary back in their day and received pretty good reviews from those willing to pay the entry fee which at the time was prohibitive, but now... not so much. The biggest gripe was the M5B2 turrets that almost nobody seemed to like, but now that they offer it with the M5C2 turrets (though strangely you can't get illumination with this turret) I too would be curious how the Mark 8 compares to todays alpha glass. If they offered the 3.5-25 with an illuminated PR1 Mil reticle with the M5C2 turrets, that would be very compelling indeed, but they don't and I have little hope that Leupold will ever get it right. Sometimes I feel like they have "Eye"gor from Young Frankenstein working on the scopes and some brilliant engineers come up with really good ideas but then Igor goes and grabs Abby Normal internals and messes everything up.

 

[Poorboyr]

I had one for years. M5C2 with H59 reticle. It was a great scope. Competes with all the top guys. Definitely better than the Mark 5 in every way.

Optically up at the top. I got rid of mine because I was standardizing my scopes and didn’t like the 35mm or h59. But at $2000, it’s a great scope.

 

[W54/XM-388]

If you ever plan to sell it to upgrade or if you don't like it and want to move on, those scopes have a very low resale price compared to what you would pay for a new one.

Other more commonly popular ones will fetch a price that is much closer to your purchase price.

 

[Cswedeen]

Thanks for the replies.
It does seem like they have all the ability to make the scopes everyone wants, yet decide not to.
At the original $3-4k price tag I can definitely see not holding their value, but around the $2k mark might be worth a shot. Poorboyr your comments on the mk8 were really the only ones I could find with the better turret, seems like you really liked yours

 

[Poorboyr]

I liked the scope. No issues with anything. I just like the USO scopes better and switched over. I think I sold mine for $2300 too.

On a side note, all my hunting rifles have a Leupold on top of them. No issues.

 

[Glassaholic]

Thanks for the replies.
It does seem like they have all the ability to make the scopes everyone wants, yet decide not to.
At the original $3-4k price tag I can definitely see not holding their value, but around the $2k mark might be worth a shot.

At 32oz and with decent FOV this could be serious competition to the Schmidt 3-27, but it needs the PR1/PR2 illuminated reticle. At $2kish I agree, it makes for a very compelling option should one of the reticles work for you.