Rifle Scopes SHOT Show Report Day 1 from Doug of Camera Land

[gr8fuldoug]

Today was the opening day of SHOT Show. Very excited to see what's new, who's new, and what exciting products are being shown for the first time. As we have in the past we are looking to expand our offerings this year, if there's something great to add. Looking forward to what this week will bring.

We have added a SHOT Show Page on our Home Page so please check it out.

2017 was a very interesting year for us. We added Athlon,AimCam, GPO and Konus to the stable of brands that we carry. We feel all of these were great additions. Companies that bring quality products, great customer service and value to their brands.

Day 1:
My first meeting this year was with Leica. I wasn't sure what to expect as last year Terry Moore, long standing icon of Leica Sports Optics retired after SHOT. Thankfully and brilliantly, Leica promoted from within and my long time friend Brian was put in charge of Sports Optics. It's great when we can continue working with folks that we've built relationships with over years and in this case decades

They showed the new members of their Geovid family, the Geovid HD-B 3000 and HD-R 2700. This new line of Geovid binoculars offer the longest range of any Class 1 laser product, a completely new LED display with decimal figures, new symbols, Micro SD Card Programming and extremely fast scanning modes.

We discussed customer service as this has been a hot button topic. Last year they tripled the staff and in 2018 they will be doubling that. They are putting Care back into Customer Care. When any product is sent in for service the customer will be contacted in 1-2 business days. They are on a mission to be #1 in service. So happy about this.

Stop # 2 of the morning was with Athlon Sports Optics and to say I was excited would be an understatement. We opened up with Athlon towards the end of 2017 and they have entered our offerings by storm. They offer a line of both Hunting and Tactical Riflescopes, Binoculars, Red-Dots and Spotting Scopes. The interesting thing about Athlon is that they have many parallel products to other very popular brands and manage to offer their items for 20-40% lower priced than the competition without cutting corners. Great quality, great customer service, great variety of offerings and lower prices. Hmmmmmm. The reason I was so excited is that I've been working with these guys for a few months but have never met them. Time to put faces with the voices that I've been working closely with on the phone for the past few months.

New Product announcements include:
Riflescopes
Cronus BTR (Tactical)
210200 1-6x24, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 24mm, ATSR2 SFP IR MOA Reticle $1,099.99
210108 4.5-29x56, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 34mm,APLR FFP IR MOA Reticle $1,799.99
210110B 4.5-29x56, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 34mm, APRS FFP IR MIL Reticle (Brown) $1,799.99
210108B 4.5-29x56, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 34mm, APLR FFP IR MOA Reticle (Brown) $1,799.99
Ares ETR (Tactical)
212100 4.5-30x50, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 34mm, APRS1 FFP IR MIL Reticle $1,199.99
212101 4.5-30x50, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 34mm, APRS2 FFP IR MOA Reticle $1,199.99
212100B 4.5-30x50, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 34mm, APRS1 FFP IR MIL Reticle (Brown) $1,199.99
212101B 4.5-30x50, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 34mm, APLR2 FFP IR MOA Reticle (Brown) $1,199.99
Midas TAC (Tactical)
213070 4-16x50, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 30mm, APRS2 FFP MIL Reticle $589.99
213075 6-24x50, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 30mm, APRS2 FFP MIL Reticle $629.99
Midas HMR
213050 2.5-15x50, Capped, Side Focus, 30mm, SFP, AHMR IR MOA $489.99
213051 2.5-15x50, Capped, Side Focus, 30mm, SFP, IR BDC600A $489.99
Argos BTR (Tactical)
214070 10-40x56, Direct Dial, Side Focus, 30mm, SFP, BLR MOA $399.99
Neos
216010 4-12x40, Capped , Side Focus, 1 inch, SFP, 22 RimFire $139.99
Spotting Scopes
Cronus
311003 Cronus Tactical 7-42x60 ED with Ranging Reticle (Grey) $999.99
311003T Cronus Tactical 7-42x60 ED with Ranging Reticle (Tan) $999.99
Laser Rangefinder
Ares
501001 2000Y Rangefinder (Grey) $449.99
Midas
502003 1 Mile Rangefinder (Grey) $369.99

For those of you not familiar with Athlon please check out:
Argos BTR Riflescope Review posted by a Ballistics Analyst with the NYPD
Ares Spotting Scope Review from a customer who purchased one

I told them I'd like to be able to offer an exciting "get the brand out there" promotion and we worked out a slammin' deal for you.
Argos 2-10x40 reduced from $249.99 to only $199.99
Argos 3-15x40 reduced from $279.99 to only $219.99
Argos 4-20x50 reduced from $319.99 to only $249.99
Argos 6-30x56 reduced from $349.99 to only $269.99
These are for sure a best buy opportunity. Check out these scopes and you'll be thrilled you did.

Next stop Kowa . For those of you who read my report each year you may recall that my friend Paul joined Kowa right before SHOT last year. We had a slow start of things working together, however, we managed to get together on some great promotions in 2017 and together we got the Kowa name out there to more than just the birding community. There was this Kowa Genesis 8x33 vs Swarovski 8x32 EL Binoculars review posted on SnipersHide that woke a few folks up to the fact that Kowa has some notably optics.

Their TSN-55mm Compact Spotting Scope was released towards the end of 2017 and was a huge success. Super high quality in a tiny lightweight package. I'd put this scope up against pretty much any 65mm spotter and you'll choose the Kowa for quality and the size and weight are sooooo tiny.

continued below

 

[gr8fuldoug]

From Kowa I headed on over to Hawke. Every year I tell myself I will wait for the floor plan to be released so I can make my appointments intelligently (without having to run from end to end or downstairs to upstairs and then back down and over again). Oh well, maybe next year, lol
So, Hawke.....
We first met with and brought Hawke on board at SHOT 2016. We did not do a great deal with them in 2016, however, that certainly changed in 2017. Their Endurance Series Binoculars and riflescopes were a very big seller for us and we received amazing feedback from our customers. Great optics for the surprisingly low pricing.

This year looks exciting with new products being released.
Their Frontier line was enhanced with FFP and Tactical Turrets. They revamped the Endurance line with longer eye-relief and a wide angle optical system in 13 new models. The Vantage includes 3 new wide-angle 30mm riflescope models, while the Sidewinder line has been enhanced with 2 FFP models to expand the offering their long range model offerings.
I am very excited about Hawkes commitment to the industry and their customers. Listening to what folks have been asking for and responding with upgrades in their already successful product lines. All while keeping their pricing realistic.

I did give them some crap about their lack of marketing for their Spotting Scopes & LaserRangefinders as most people aren't even aware that they offer them. Which is a pity because their Spotting Scopes have eye relief of up to 20mm which is way better than almost everything else on the market and for folks wearing glasses this is HUGE.

Next in my crazy busy day was Leupold . Mid-2017 the Leupold representative that I had been working with for a couple of years left the company and I was assigned a new guy. Those of you who know me can imagine how I reacted, lol. As it turned out I was upgraded
In September Dan made a trip to NY to meet with me and we had an extensive meeting covering everything from product availability issues, customer service and the direction he saw Leupold going and our involvement with that. He seemed genuinely interested in growing the company and taking it beyond what it is. There's growing pains as with any company that's been around a long time as there's constant changes within and all around. I understand this better than most as Camera Land entered its 61st year this past November and things have definitely changed since we opened in 1957.

New product announcements include:
The Mark 5HD. You can click here for the full announcement and details and their VX-Freedom. The VX-Freedom is a replacement for the VX-1's and VX-2's and it seems to be a decent scope. Running $199.99 - $299.99 it's a nice entry level scope worth checking out.

Last stop today was with great friends at Swarovski & Kahles . We've been a Swarovski dealer for a couple of decades now so it's great seeing all the folks here. A few have been here a long time and the only time I get to see them is here at SHOT so I really look forward to catching up. OH, and I get to see all the new toys.

2017 was a great year at Camera Land for both Swarovski & Kahles. Our sale grew with Swarovski Spotting Scopes and their Z3 Riflescopes. The Kahles Riflescopes were impossible to keep up with as stock was difficult to come by and once we received a delivery it sold out rather quickly.
New announcements include:
KAHLES K318i Ultrashort: "The K318i is perfection packed into an ultrashort housing. To achieve highest performance standards despite short-build design it took many years of development and the latest technologies. The optical system with it's wide field of view and a brilliant, exceptional high contrast image sets new standards for ultrashort riflescopes". Please click here for all the detail on this new scope This scope is a serious offering by Kahles and I think it will be a very big seller for them.

Swarovski announced their new CL Companion binoculars click this link for details . They made it small and light and when I put it up to my eyes the ease and comfort of view was amazing. It's available in 8x30 and 10x30 with your choice of 3 different style cases. Very nice addition to their line-up.

I cannot believe I scheduled so many meetings for the first day. You'd have thought I would have learned after all these years coming here. Once again I will say.....Never again.

Remembering from years past how great it felt on my dried out throat I stopped on the way back to my room for an ice cream cone. I went with a double scoop, Vanilla and Caramel and it was as great as it was last year.
OK, Day 1 done. Tomorrow is another day

 

[Glassaholic]

Thank you Doug for the write-up, sounds like you did indeed have a very busy day. Curious, you said you stopped by Leupold and Kahles, did you get a chance to handle the new Mark 5HD 3.6-18x44 and the new K318i? Care to give any first impressions? Also, the Leica HD-B 3000 looks like a LRF Bino I can finally sink my teeth into, did they do anything with the bino design or is it simply an LRF upgrade to the same design as previous HD-B's?

 

[gr8fuldoug]

The Leupold is a very nice scope. Solid, built extremely well. A product you'd expect of them. 1st rate all the way. Priced at $1799.99 I think it comes in priced better than some that are not giving as much.

The Kahles may be THE scope of the show. I called over a buddy who is a ballistics analyst for the NYPD and two friends who are guides and they lost their minds. LOVED IT. This is a total home run.

 

[GIXXER2000]

The KAHLES k319i was cool and it is very short had a chance to compare today at Shot. It look very good solid build

 

[Glassaholic]

The Leupold is a very nice scope. Solid, built extremely well. A product you'd expect of them. 1st rate all the way. Priced at $1799.99 I think it comes in priced better than some that are not giving as much.

The Kahles may be THE scope of the show. I called over a buddy who is a ballistics analyst for the NYPD and two friends who are guides and they lost their minds. LOVED IT. This is a total home run.

Thank you Doug, I can't wait to see/hear more about Luepy and Kahles along with the new ZCO ZC420, this is rounding out to be a fantastic year for Ultra Short scopes. By the way, where'd you come up with a price of $1799.99 for the Leupold as the lowest price I can find on Leupold's website for the Mark 5HD 3.6-18x44 is $2399.99?

 

[gr8fuldoug]

$2,339.99 is MSRP not street selling price

 

[fdkay]

Doug,
Please wing by the Sightron exhibit if you can.
i would love some feedback on their new 4.5-24 tactical scope

 

[stwcattle]

I cant wait to get my Geovid HD-B 3000's

 

[Glassaholic]

$2,339.99 is MSRP not street selling price

Gotcha, didn't realize you were quoting "street".

 

[TheMammoth]

$2,339.99 is MSRP not street selling price

1800 seems like a really nice price point for these. I hope this line is as good as the hype!

 

[Lmatt]

I have just the rifle for that Mark 5HD

 

[Jimmy31593]

I'd love some elaboration on the Leica customer service. I was just told 6 weeks if they can fix my binos in the country and 16 if they have to leave the country. These are the demos I JUST got from you.

 

[Pusher591]

So what happen to the new Steiner scopes they said they were coming out with?