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whats the deal with arken optics?
- Thread starter HKslave
- Start date
dammit thats what I was afraid of. Someone on here talked me into an swfa ss and it seems like a good scope for the money, albeit dated. I was hoping if someone knew if arken was made by light optical works, but it sounds like they arent.
If only there were threads available to read through.
You're not going to get a LOW or JOL with all those features for the price.
They are made in China. They are made to a price point.
They are guaranteed to track.
Many folks are very pleased with their Arken scopes.
They do put out a turd every now and then, but they will take care of you.
What more can you ask for? At that price, compromises have to be made.
There is no free lunch.
You're not going to get a LOW or JOL with all those features for the price.
They are made in China. They are made to a price point.
They are guaranteed to track.
Many folks are very pleased with their Arken scopes.
They do put out a turd every now and then, but they will take care of you.
What more can you ask for? At that price, compromises have to be made.
There is no free lunch.
They are as good as any optic in their price range. Their cheapest option is leaps and bounds better than the swfa fixed. Their ep5 is leaps and bounds better than the swfa 3-15.
Durable enough, don’t take it to Ukraine and fight.
Have one on my 22. Works well and I like the reticle. I've compared to a buddies Strike Eagle and I like the Strike Eagle more. But the Arken was cheaper.
the cheapest scope arken had available was about twice as much as the swfa. I like the super sniper well enough, but do you mean arken's are better feature wise or theyre more durable? because I dont think its hard to beat the swfa's features, but from what I understand the super sniper was durable enough for the mk 14 EBR, but arken has no deployment history.
I got say I agree, I think the strike eagle edged out the ep5 but like you said, it was cheaper. I think as far as durability the Arken feels more robust.
Have an ep5. Glass is much better than my old DMR Bushnell. Haven’t put it through the paces yet, but for the price, it’s better than I had hoped. Again, no free lunch, but it’s a hell of a lot better than many others at the price point.
The cheapest Arken right now is about 400$. If you want 5 mil turrets, 30mm fixed power, no zero stop, dated reticle the swfa is your baby. I’ve had probably 10 fixed ss and four or five 3-15s I’ve sent three fixed back for repair and replacement and one 3-15. I just don’t see the durability they claim. The Arken falls in that price range and offers all the latest features and there’s some pretty impressive torture test out there. I’m a fan of swfa but they need to update bad!!!
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Arken are very good scopes for the price. I've got 2.
I meant the cheapest Arken ive seen in stock. but when it comes to budget scopes like arken, swfa, and vortex it seems like the opinions are always polar opposite, like the cheaper products might be fine, but some people just had bad luck and got lemons that slipped through quality control, which is really what your paying for in a more expensive optic I guess.
I really just bought the SWFA because I already had a mount and my vortex diamondback tactical didnt fit into it, which was a cryin shame because it seemed like an awesome scope. It was and arms #72 mount though (yes, I know, everything I own is dated)
I really just bought the SWFA because I already had a mount and my vortex diamondback tactical didnt fit into it, which was a cryin shame because it seemed like an awesome scope. It was and arms #72 mount though (yes, I know, everything I own is dated)
have one on a 308 for about 3k rounds and it's been stellar
You won’t have to worry about your swfa.
It’s just really simple and doesn’t have the feature set that is in the newer stuff. Tracking is becoming second to glass anymore because most companies figured out how to build cheap scopes with robust mechanisms capable of repeatable tracking. Hell even the diamondback tactical is getting a pretty food track record for tracking.
I talked to Arken about that a while ago, they said send it.
I have two as well. Dials consistently, easily get you to 1000y and beyond, and decent reticle. I would definitely recommend to those on a budget, and to be honest, those not on a budget. Glass isn’t as good as my DMR II but still getting the job done.
I'm doing a scope swap on a few rifles and a 20ga shotgun with a slug barrel. Throwing the shotgun scope in the garbage and trading up until I get to an AR with nice billet upper/lower and a 20" barrel. Pretty sure I'm going to pull the trigger on an SH4 4-16X50. It's got a 34mm tube, decent reticle and it's a touch over 400$. They also have a 34mm AR mount for 60$, seems like a no brainer?
Pretty much sums it up. Out of four, I returned one as the parallax did not match the distances even remotely close. It still focused, just didn’t match up and I’m picky enough that it bothered me. Other than that, I’ve been very happy with the EP line and shocked at the overall quality and clarity. The SH4 Gen 2 is nice too. Especially at the price point, it’s hard to beat IMO.
There’s nothing wrong with them except there made in China. If the price is in your wheelhouse and your cool with it being made by communist then it’s feature rich and works dam good for its price. I got mine in a comp deal price and slapped it on my wife’s Valkyrie. So far it’s great.
I have a sh4 4-16 on a 30-06, I had a ep4 6-24 on a 338 lapua just to see if it would hold up and it did fine. I know another guy who placed third a match at thunder valley with a ep4 on his 338 shooting out to a mile. I have my ep5 on a axis ll precision .308.
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They have QC issues. If you search it, you'll find issues like non-functioning parallax, turrets not tracking properly, debris in optic.
Are you going to drive nails with it? Going to combat with it? Or are you going to use it for bunny busting and and The occasional nrl match?
I have no problems with tracking, parallax or debris across the 4 that I owned. The only issue I had was with my 4-16 ep4, it was one of the first ones to come out, probably one of the first 50 on the market and the mag ring was stiff as hell. Too stiff when mounted to the rifle to use effectively. Arken went above and beyond to make it right, even after two years of owning it. I suggest you email Arken or call and talk to them, you’ll be reassured that you’ll be happy. Great guys all around.
They do but they also rectify any issue very fast paying for shipping both ways. I was impressed. Others have said the same thing. Like em or not they’re doing a thing and are here to stay it seems.
Dude I don’t mean to be harsh but you’re building a SCAR and you’re screwing around on this project. Buy a real scope or sell the gun and buy something that isn’t going to destroy optics and can shoot with an enjoyable degree of precision, and that doesn’t lose its warranty if you suppress it. You have a complicated gremlin of a gun and you’re joking around with the item that it needs in order to shoot; the glass.
I for one want him to use a Arken. I wanna see how it holds up.
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So does Vortex, all of that and then some. I don't like the China aspect of it, but it's pretty hard to get away from. At that price point, impossible.
we live in America where we do what we want
Me too, but I have to get one first before I go broke buying .308 ammo in this day and age
I have one on a 6.5, one on a .22 and one on a .223 AR. Nothing beats them for the money. I had one go down because I was very hard on it - competition rifle and they replaced it ASAP. And it failed becuase I beat on it mercilously.
I have mine on a 300 WM and have beat the shit out of it. I can't complain about build quality or longevity so far. I could complain about their reticle being slightly busy (don't like christmas trees), but it's not even that bad. I really wish they made an LPVO for ARs, being honest. 4-16 is the lowest and the illumination is worthless during the day though, so maybe not yet haha.
I have 4 of them currently... 3 of the SH4 Gen2 6-24x50 VPR MIL scopes, and 1 of the EP5 VPR MIL scopes. All have been excellent. The first EP5 I had was junk straight out of the box, and they promptly sent me a return label and apologized for the inconvenience, and then pulled the new replacement scope out of the box and checked it themselves in Texas before shipping it out to me. No cost in shipping to me at all. I could tell they checked it because the magnification was on 25x (they come set on 5x from the factory in China) and the parallax was not on 100 yards. Which I thought was pretty cool that they did that to ensure the new one was perfect before shipping it out.
Are they perfect? No. Are they alpha-tier optics? No. But it's pretty damn decent for a $550 scope. And all the other features and precision tracking guarantee makes it a pretty solid deal for the money. Like was said before, their CS service is top-notch so if you get a bad one, you'll be taken care of. And because they sell direct, they do have a full-refund option if you are dissatisfied with the scope, or if it's defective. So, it's kind of hard to lose in that situation.
Dig through my thread, and you'll find honest and unbiased and unfiltered opinions, both good and bad. You'll even see where I discussed my lemon EP5, and how they took care of me, and sent me a proper product without question.
Rifle Scopes - Arken SH4 Gen2 6-24x50 VPR MIL
*** Alright... Let's try this one more time... Maybe they have gotten it out of their system, and this time folks can be mature about this and act civil, and not accuse people of "shilling", and start hating on what other people spend their own personal money on. *** *** I am not sponsored...
www.snipershide.com
I have an EP5, after testing the tracking and taking it out to 750 yards in some pretty crummy conditions I liked it enough to sell my Burris XTR II, which at the time was double what the Arken cost. I don't think you'll find a scope for less than 600 dollars that compares to it.
Damn they got wait time like that? It wasn't from optics planet was it?
Good feedback on them otherwise though, i just have terrible luck pairing optics with rings and mounts, and for a while concluded i was only gonna use optics with integral mounts ie: elcan, acog but im just hamstrung by the magnification level, even though it is doable to make shots out to 1000 (thinkin mustafa from American sniper with a 4x ps-01 scope making kills at 1k+ yards)
I ordered from the Arken website itself. Can't wait for it to arrive...if it sucks...well, it will enter the graveyard of optics in my closet. lol
I have two of them, have had no complaints so far. Both are on 6.5CM's.
That seems overly harsh. I think for the price they are very good.
The EP4 I have has been flawless, the magnification ring is a bit tight, but that's the only complaint. After I got that and an Athlon Ares I sold a Nightforce NXS and Sightron SIII that I was previously using on those guns, and I didn't think I gave any capability away. I shoot just as well with the Arken EP4 and Athlon Ares as I did with the NXS and SIII, and I prefer the Arken and Athlon reticles.
The Arken tracking is as good as anything else I've seen and the turrets have "nice" clicks for people that like that.
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