I received an email today from Arken announcing that they had the sh4-16 ‘s went to their website and it still had the 10 week back order time frame. Decided to gamble and went ahead and ordered one maybe I get lucky...
Rifle Scopes The Arken Optics Thread (merged)
- Thread starter Banango
- Start date
Yep, I still haven't heard back...Hope you get a good oneWaiting on my return shipping label...
Thinking I may just return mine, I'm not very happy about this.
I have a EP 4 6-24 it’s a good scope,when you compare to others twice as much. Great glass, the turrets are good power and parallax are smooth eyebox is great. The reticle is too thin at low power but at 10 up it’s fine. I really like nice glass but I don’t have the income to be able to afford the upper tier scopes even the 1200-1500 price range is tough to be able to outfit 4-5 rifles
New User Posting as to build credibility as non-shiller:
I purchased an Arken SH4 6x24 in MIL for POF Revolution DI in .308 or my Mossberg Patriot in .308
Purchase date: Nov. 26th, 2020.
I'm currently running on my POF a Primary Arms 1x6 SFP ACCS which I feel like I should be just fine with in SHTF or just general plinking out to 500 yards (haven't taken it past 100 yet, things have been crazy in ohio as far as me finding longer ranges to shot) but after watching the Texas Plinking and Tiberious Rex infomercials for the SH4 well....I had to buy one. I'd been wondering about the VORTEX VIPERS because my friend runs one, but I am just getting into longer distance shooting and i've also spent so much money this year on new guns, ammo, magazine, etc. I'm really hoping that 1. the scope doesn't have any of the minor issues that people have been posting about whenever I finally get mine and 2. that it is somewhat durable.
Like a lot of you the Lifetime warranty kinda sold me for the price, but ALSO i'm super excited that I was able to get a throw lever and bubble lever bundled in! (i'm such a new shooter that I just found out about bubble levers and cosign indicators etc).
Anyway, lol 7-10 weeks from now when I get my scope i'll let you all know.
OH yes, question: has anyone in this group won one of their scope giveaways?
I purchased an Arken SH4 6x24 in MIL for POF Revolution DI in .308 or my Mossberg Patriot in .308
Purchase date: Nov. 26th, 2020.
I'm currently running on my POF a Primary Arms 1x6 SFP ACCS which I feel like I should be just fine with in SHTF or just general plinking out to 500 yards (haven't taken it past 100 yet, things have been crazy in ohio as far as me finding longer ranges to shot) but after watching the Texas Plinking and Tiberious Rex infomercials for the SH4 well....I had to buy one. I'd been wondering about the VORTEX VIPERS because my friend runs one, but I am just getting into longer distance shooting and i've also spent so much money this year on new guns, ammo, magazine, etc. I'm really hoping that 1. the scope doesn't have any of the minor issues that people have been posting about whenever I finally get mine and 2. that it is somewhat durable.
Like a lot of you the Lifetime warranty kinda sold me for the price, but ALSO i'm super excited that I was able to get a throw lever and bubble lever bundled in! (i'm such a new shooter that I just found out about bubble levers and cosign indicators etc).
Anyway, lol 7-10 weeks from now when I get my scope i'll let you all know.
OH yes, question: has anyone in this group won one of their scope giveaways?
I haven't been following this thread so take this opinion for what it is.
I bought a Ruger Precision Rifle years ago, and before I could take delivery due to backorders I was a new member and was only reading and posting on Snipershide in the RPR thread...because that was what brought me here.
Not saying its not a shill but I'm just reflecting on myself with the RPR
I’m with you, Smoketheclay. XM54/XM-338 basically described me to a tee. I just joined the hide, only posted and have read up on this thread, and have basically nothing negative to say about this scope that I bought here. It’s almost like there’s a new company making a competitive product that there is limited user experience with due to the quantity produced. The reality is that objectively speaking, the features absolutely kick butt for the price. The turrets feel amazing. I hear the new Midas TAC, and Ares ETR are comparable, both of which are much more expensive. I have no real experience with other higher end scopes, but have handled a lot of scopes at gun stores. Most turrets are crap compared to these. My only complaint is glass quality. I compared this side by side with a Viper HS LR 6-24x50. While the Arken had a much wider field of view, great color, bright image, and limited chromatic fringe, clarity (probably the most important feature) was noticeably worse.
My gen 1 SH4 has parallax issues as well. Cant focus beyond ~150 yards. Would have been the best sub $400 scope ive ever used if not for that.
Yes, if Arken would address this consistent parallax issue, it would make one of the best optics for $400.
As long as they can't figure out their parallax / quality control issues they're crap.
If they sort this out (before they ruin their own business by keeping up pumping out of spec scopes onto the market) then it's a great optic in this price range.
These described parallax issues are no incident with these Arken scopes. More and more actual user reviews (not from shills but actual buyers) pop up with people describing out of spec scopes
www.airgunnation.com
If they sort this out (before they ruin their own business by keeping up pumping out of spec scopes onto the market) then it's a great optic in this price range.
These described parallax issues are no incident with these Arken scopes. More and more actual user reviews (not from shills but actual buyers) pop up with people describing out of spec scopes
Arken optics sh4 6-24x50 - Review
My next scope :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WE_nBllUE7I
www.airgunnation.com
Arken’s are 8 weeks out according to the link above
Many of us new to Precision Rifle Marksmanship are looking for performance at affordable prices and Arken is very nice for the price. This thread contains several good and some bad reviews on Arken. Overall, Arken fixes issues from what I've read, you may just have to wait a bit for the fix. Seems like a promising company. Definitely report back. Thank you.
Arken SH4 FFP VPR MIL - Asking current owners of this scope to let us know how bright your illuminated reticle is when set on max illumination? I know that only the center cross lights but mine is so dim that even on max power it cannot be seen at all in overcast daylight when set to 6x. If I dial it up to 24x, I can only tell that the reticle is lighted by turning it on and off. It is only truly visible to me when used in very lowlight conditions. Is that normal? My battery is new but I also had two new batteries that were dead. All of my other lighted scopes can be turned up to a brightness which made the lighted portion visible even in bright sunshine. This one is very subtle. It that is normal, fine but it just seemed different to me.
I'm wondering how many of these parallax issues are due to over tightening the scope rings.
Thank You JymB. Can you see the lighted cross in the center when turned up to 10 max brightness and with the scope set to 6x on a cloudy day? Or is it only visible during the twilight hours or in the shadows of deep woods? I would appreciate the observations of other owners too.
I have the SH4 FFP Mil in 6-24x and really like the scope but have had issues with the lighted reticle being so dim that I cannot tell when it is on or off unless I point it at a very dark tgt in lowlight conditions. I was not sure that was normal. And is useless when attempting to light the cross to make it easier to pickup fast on low mag (i.e. 6x) while running a fast paced PRC match in daylight. It is like the resistor on the illumination control is too high and is lowering the voltage from the battery too much. If this is normal, I will make it work. Arken customer service is very responsive. I had an issue with the first one and they replaced it quickly. Any product can have issues. The good companies respond in a timely manner and fix the issue. Arken is trying to do the right things and for the price point make a good product.
They told me that the EH4 production was halted so they could focus all resources on the roll out of the SH4 product. I am expecting that the EH4 will return at some point with maybe an updated and/or lighted reticle but am not sure. I am curious why they were banned from the forum?
After watching LowLight's review I decided to give one of the Gen 1 scopes a try and it was impressively good clarity for the price. The reticle was unusable at the low-end, which seems to have been corrected in the second generation.
I didn't end up mounting it as I didn't love how stiff the magnification was, and sold it for what I paid.
I ordered a Gen 2 4-16 recently (still waiting on it) and their 34mm scope mount.
The scope mount is very poorly made, hopefully they get the scope right.
I didn't end up mounting it as I didn't love how stiff the magnification was, and sold it for what I paid.
I ordered a Gen 2 4-16 recently (still waiting on it) and their 34mm scope mount.
The scope mount is very poorly made, hopefully they get the scope right.
The illume on my scope was very bright. In my brightly lit garage anything over 4 was too bright.
I did see a video review on you tube, the reviewer did specifically mention parallax issues, but it tracked like it was on rails, he said the glass was very nice as well.
I received my EP-4 6-24x50 today, and I am very impressed. Have read about stiff power ring, diopter, parralax, but mine was perfect. The turrets are really good and the clarity was far better than I expected. It could be the very best value in the market today. It would be an impressive scope for twice the price.
I put Vortex Defender caps on mine and they are working out good. Very Impressive scope.....especially for the price!!!
Ok I'm in, I just ordered an SH4 4-16X50 GEN2 FFP MOA VPR Today. After reading all of this and doing some research I decided to try one. Now to just forget about it and be surprised when it comes in. I was all set to get a Vortex Viper PST but EV didn't have any in stock and couldn't order so I started looking around.
What date did you place your order on? I have 2 SH4's on order, coming up on 9 weeks.
I ordered the SH4 a month ago and now I’m contemplating cancelling my order to buy a Bushnell Elite Tactical DMR II instead.
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So, I ordered an SH4 6-24 Mil genII back on 11/22. Got it today.
Seems good except the illumination does not work. I'm going to go get a new battery to see if that's the problem.
Otherwise, turrets feel good, parallax knob is a little stiff, but really smooth. magnification dial turns nicely.
Hoping I just got a dead battery with the scope.
Seems good except the illumination does not work. I'm going to go get a new battery to see if that's the problem.
Otherwise, turrets feel good, parallax knob is a little stiff, but really smooth. magnification dial turns nicely.
Hoping I just got a dead battery with the scope.
Did you order it from Arken? I ordered mine on 11/23 and haven't heard anything
Still patiently waiting I guess.
Anyway, congratulations, sorry about your reticle hopefully it worked out!
I did order directly from Arken.
I reached out to them 1/25 and he said they had shipped out to 11/12 and mine would be shipped in the next couple weeks. I got shipping notice 2/4.
I’m really hoping it’s just a dead battery. I can’t find my fluke meter to test it.
I reached out to them 1/25 and he said they had shipped out to 11/12 and mine would be shipped in the next couple weeks. I got shipping notice 2/4.
I’m really hoping it’s just a dead battery. I can’t find my fluke meter to test it.
Its posts like this one that really pushed me toward buying a Bushnell Match Pro instead of an Arken. I got caught up in the hype around these Arken scopes and waited long time for the EP series which still isn’t back in stock. I finally just ordered a Match Pro and had it in my hands 4 days later with no issues to report.
I can understand a guy being a skeptic: a few hundred bucks is still a few hundred bucks (even if that's almost nothing in the rifle scope game).
That said, IMHO having played with both an Arken SH4 Gen2 and a Bushnell Match Pro, that's not an apples to apples comparison. The Bushnell is like a child's toy or something compared to the Arken (and the EP's are supposed to be even nicer).
well, now that I’ve really had a little time to play with it, I pulled the battery out and put it back in when I had it switched on. I was messing with it when I looked through it worked. So I put the cap back on... it didn’t work again. So, I pulled the cap back off and bent the contacts out a bit and screwed if back on. Problem solved.
It turns out to just be the contacts on the cap needed to be bent out a touch.
Only time will tell, but everything else seems solid.
I’ll get it on a gun this weekend, but there seem to be no noticeable parallax issue at all.
Other than a scare with the illumination (witch honestly, I don’t see myself using anyway) it’s a damn impressive scope for $400. So far.
Not very reassuring experiences from what I'm reading. My order is already behind schedule. When I do get it I am going to over it with a fine tooth comb, if anything is not right I will be sending it back. Thinking I should of just paid $1k more for proper glass.
Don't know how they are justifying price increases when they continue to have quality issues.
Don't know how they are justifying price increases when they continue to have quality issues.
Lol, it’s a $400 scope that is better than most $1000+ scopes if you get a good one... that’s probably why the price went up, chill out a little maybe
I know guys who’ve had to send Nightforce scopes back, and I’ve had issues with lots of “top-tier” stuff over the years, not everybody gets delivered a perfect example no matter what you buy.There shouldn’t be so much whining going on about a company trying to deliver more for less and not always hitting the mark while they’re still getting their feet under them, for anyone who wants a deal it’s totally worth the risk IMO... but if you can’t be bothered, yeah, buy a more expensive scope, still doesn’t mean you won’t have any issues.
From a business standpoint - we are starting to see the preliminary effects of the COVID controlled panic. Gonna get a lot worse in the next couple years across the board.
Received the SH4 ordered 11/23/2021 and mounted on my Bergara B14R this week. Haven't really been able to get a good bright day to make a thorough evaluation on the clarity at high magnification but looks pretty good so far. The turrets are very large and tactile. I worked them hard just to test and return to zero was perfect. At $400, even $450 its so far a great buy.
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