Caved in and ordered one yesterday to put on my ARC Nucleus XYLO package. I was torn between it and the Athlon Cronus. They were pretty much the same price and decided to just try something different. Hope I made the right choice....
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Rifle Scopes New Tract Toric 4.5-30x56
- Thread starter Covertnoob5
- Start date
I’m in the same boat on the Cronus, but this company’s responsiveness to queries and the fact that it’s LOW manufactured but with Schott glass tipped me over to the Tract.
Make that 3 - I would have probably went Cronus or Razor AMG if I did not go Tract
I purchased two Tract's and love them. I wanted them to match on my centerfire and rimfire rifle for the same mechanics. For rimfire though I'm struggling as I'm trying to get better with offhand stages and wanting to drop a little weight. I'm considering getting a lighter scope and selling off one of my Tract's. I think the Razor AMG might fit the bill but heard a few people with QC issues (broken parallax knobs). Or I guess, I could just work on getting stronger.
I just received the 4.5 - 30 and think it's right up there with my razor AMG and razor gen 2. I haven't mounted it yet but I'm very impressed with fit, finish and the glass. I feel very good about this purchase
I was looking at the Cronus as well, expert voice didn't have them in stock. Was looking at this thread and sent in for info on the Tract mil discount program at like 830PM and had a response within 5 minutes, that was enough for me to go ahead and order one.
I ordered the IOTA high rings from Tract when I ordered the scope. Still waiting to get everything in and mount. I was not home yesterday when USPS finally showed up to deliver so I have to pick up tomorrow.
I have both. I like the tract more. I do like the turret locking more on the razor but everything else I like the Tract more
FedEx just dropped mine off...tied it to my tripod and played around with it for a bit. My initial thoughts so far:
1. Glass quality seems outstanding so far. My "best" scope before this one is a PST 2 5-25. Looking at a roof a couple hundred yards away the detail, clarity, depth of field and CA control are in a different league.
2. Main controls are very smooth. The Vortex mag ring is annoyingly, stupid stiff, the Tract is nice and easy, just the right amount of resistance. Same for the parallax control as well. Illumination knob detents are pretty mushy, wish they would firm that one up.
3. I shot a flashlight through the front element and sadly there is a spec of factory dirt somewhere in the middle of the scope. I am a photographer as well and know it will make -0- difference, but a bit upsetting to see in a sealed optic.
4. Turrets are perhaps the biggest letdown. I don't understand why locking turrets have so much play in them once unlocked. There is about a hashmark worth of slop until the next detent hits. Oddly the windage is a bit tighter than elevation. The detents themselves are more mushy than I like. PST is slightly clickier and my Athlon Midas TACs are way clickier. I happen to like the TACs, but I guess it's personal preference.
5. Reticle looks good to me. I like the spacing and thickness of everything. I don't understand why the tree goes all the way down, it's pretty unusable until you hit 10X+, but whatever.
So beautiful glass with serviceable controls. I will keep playing around with it while waiting for my 34mm rings to show up...
1. Glass quality seems outstanding so far. My "best" scope before this one is a PST 2 5-25. Looking at a roof a couple hundred yards away the detail, clarity, depth of field and CA control are in a different league.
2. Main controls are very smooth. The Vortex mag ring is annoyingly, stupid stiff, the Tract is nice and easy, just the right amount of resistance. Same for the parallax control as well. Illumination knob detents are pretty mushy, wish they would firm that one up.
3. I shot a flashlight through the front element and sadly there is a spec of factory dirt somewhere in the middle of the scope. I am a photographer as well and know it will make -0- difference, but a bit upsetting to see in a sealed optic.
4. Turrets are perhaps the biggest letdown. I don't understand why locking turrets have so much play in them once unlocked. There is about a hashmark worth of slop until the next detent hits. Oddly the windage is a bit tighter than elevation. The detents themselves are more mushy than I like. PST is slightly clickier and my Athlon Midas TACs are way clickier. I happen to like the TACs, but I guess it's personal preference.
5. Reticle looks good to me. I like the spacing and thickness of everything. I don't understand why the tree goes all the way down, it's pretty unusable until you hit 10X+, but whatever.
So beautiful glass with serviceable controls. I will keep playing around with it while waiting for my 34mm rings to show up...
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I thought the same thing about the turrets, but in practice I never had a single complaint with mushiness. I think the locking mechanism is fantastic, and never had myself on the wrong click of adjustment.
Picked up yesterday and mounted. Quick range trip to 50 and 100 yards to get zero. I'm liking the glass so far, will get out to a 400 yard range later this week. Tracking seems to be dead on, my turrets don't have any slop when unlocked, agree that the illumination detents are mushy but I don't expect to use those often. Took a few cycles before the turret locks would engage easily the first few times seemed like I was forcing them in, just going to assume that is the O-rings for now. As cell tech said, the magnification ring and parallax controls are a joy compared to vortex.
I have a PST Gen II same as cell tech was noting. As far as the razor gen II, it's been a while so I can't say for sure I will have to check one out this weekend to compare.
This weekend I hope to run 4 scopes side by side, the Tract, AMG, Leica, and Ares ETR. Will be curious how they all compare.
I hit up Tract on their web chat and messaged with Jon. He thought my turrets had more play than they should but was really concerned with the dirt inside. Scope is going back for a replacement. They are proud of their customer service and it shows!!!
Tract CS is fantastic. I have no concern over buying future scopes from them. They've answered every email and every question regarding reticles, measurements, behavior, mfging, etc...
I got the Leica, AMG, and Tract side by side.
Leica stands out above both.
AMG and Tract at least from a clarity perspective are basically spot on. I don't have any mirage to play with right now.
AMG has a larger FoV at 20x when I compare them both at 20x side by side. I see about 19 mils in the scope at 20x, and I only see 18.4mils on the Tract.
If you aren't looking to save weight, I'd just go Tract over an HD AMG. Save a few hundred dollars too.
Leica stands out above both.
AMG and Tract at least from a clarity perspective are basically spot on. I don't have any mirage to play with right now.
AMG has a larger FoV at 20x when I compare them both at 20x side by side. I see about 19 mils in the scope at 20x, and I only see 18.4mils on the Tract.
If you aren't looking to save weight, I'd just go Tract over an HD AMG. Save a few hundred dollars too.
I like the clarity and magnification of the tract more than the razor. If you like the H59 reticle a lot, then that may change things. If you are sold on the H59 reticle, I would wait for the gen 3 razor
I really like the H59. The Tract reticle is almost the same Which is why I’m interested. Any news on Razor gen 3 release?
I dont have any news but with the release of the 1-10 gen 3, my guess is in the fall or spring next year but I dont have any info to back it up.
For production class < $2000 MSRP, I would say the Tract is the best scope in this price range. By a good margin.
Tract offers a 30 day return policy. There's no reason not to try one out for 30 days.
To be transparent, I ended up selling one of my Tract's and getting a Razor HD AMG instead because I wanted to drop 1.5 lbs on my rimfire setup. I also notice that with higher magnification scopes for those who do holdovers a lot, these finer reticles are only useful under time constraints at about 15x. I find the AMG dark deep thick reticle useful at 10x.
For my centerfire rifle I have a Tract on it. I just recently picked up the new Leica and have been deciding between the two. I got a good deal on the Leica putting it close to Tract's price so not sure which way I want to go. The Leica glass definitely is sharper by a good margin, bigger FoV and eyebox, but the reticle is questionable, and no locking turrets, and no parallax markings on the knob.
How is the "vignette" appearance inside the eyebox/view of the Tract. I had a Toric 2-10x42 and Tekoa 3-something or other from Tract and they both exhibited a HUGE black ring in the view. If you've ever looked through a Nikon Monarch from the early 2000 years, you know what I'm saying. As in, there is a large black ring that isn't the edge of the tube in your view. A really annoying trait to some (myself included). The Toric was also nothing special in the glass department and as I'm sure you know the "Schott" Glass they use is from the Chinese factory, not Germany. Maybe they use German Schott in the PRS scopes, I can't say for sure, but I have my doubts. I also have had Bushnell LRTS 3-12 model scopes that exhibit a similar "vingette" inside the scope image while viewing. I was just curious if the PRS models had the same characteristics of the 1" tubed model Torics in that regard. I will say that Tract does have great customer service and quick response times. I hope they do well and continue in the future, seem like great guys. I have an Athlon Ares ETR 4.5-30 and a Cronus BTR 4.5-29 and they have very little if any "vinyette". Steiner P4xi 4-16x56 (with actual German Schott glass) of which I have 5 of.........have some of the largest field of view and "appearance of field of view" due to absolutely crystal clear image to the outer edge of the tube, without any designed "vingette" or black/tunnel view.
Trijicon Accupower "vinyette".............medium grade vinyette, annoying, but no where near as bad as the Tracts I've had.
Here's the toric on 10x at 100 yards...............no it wasn't the camera making the "Vingette" dramatic, no flip caps, etc.
Here's what I personally prefer...............as little "vingette" as possible...............
568 Yards with Steiner P4xi 4-16x56 on 16x..............while viewing the scope, there is no vingette, the camera was off center as you can tell for this pic. Also, this is German Schott glass quality
568 Yards with Steiner P4xi 4-16x56 on 16x..............while viewing the scope, there is no vingette, the camera was off center as you can tell for this pic. Also, this is German Schott glass quality
Thanks, that looks like an improvement for sure from the 1" model Tracts i've owned......and no longer own.
You have an Ares ETR? right? How does the vingette on that compare to the Toric you have? The ETR I have has no notable black ring, atleast not enough to "bug me"
Thanks for your response.
Some rich guy needs to compare the Tract, Delta Stryker and Trijicon Tenmile 4.5-30 so I will know which one to spend my money on.
Koshkin ......."Dark Lord of Optics" is probably working on that
