Bushnell Elite 6500 owner's feedback?

[brisb]

I'm doing some shipping at the moment for a new scope at the moment...

From reading reviews and people opinions (often from people who don't own the scope) seems opinions divided between love and hate for their scopes.

I've read a few articles in mags or websites which praise them. Fair enough but their also linking to sales sites or suppliers etc. where they're presumably getting a commission for sending them business so you never know if the reviews aren't a little kinder than they otherwise would be...

Lots of feedback on some other forums I've browsed across seem to be people bagging Bushnell in general... Mostly people supposedly used or had a scope in the past, but haven't necessarily have the 6500 Elite series scope...

I'm hoping from some feedback from people who've used the 6500 Elite scopes and some others like Leupold, Weaver or whatever first hand, and what they think of them compared to others.

I have a colleague who lives interstate who has one of these in the 2.6x-16x version. Long story short is they just have the scope, and aren't a shooter so can't give any useful feedback. They've offered it to me for $500 and it's new, just been sitting in a box for a year or something. They're not really a friend so it's a bit to much to ask for them to send it for me to have a look and decide...

Like I said, hoping for some impartial feedback from some actual shooters here on the scopes compare to other options.

Good deal to jump on sight-unseen?

[Streamline]

They are a $1000 scope new, if your colleague is true to his word about the condition of it that will be a good buy.

You wouldn't get anything better for $500.

[Weepy]

They are a $1000 scope new, if your colleague is true to his word about the condition of it that will be a good buy.

You wouldn't get anything better for $500.

Might be $1,000 RRP but cheaper than that in reality. Magnum sports in Sydney have them for $890 as their usual price.

Still a solid deal though... Buy a new Leupold or whatever new and you'd be paying that anyway.

For $500 I'd jump on it.

[Aster]

There are plenty of alternatives to Bushnell. Leupold, Meopta etc.

As above price will be the key.

Assuming the zoom range suits your purposes, it's going to be tough to beat for $500.

[Lorgar]

I have an Elite 6500 in the 4.5x - 30x version. Love it.

I've used Leupold, Nikon, Weaver, Meopta etc. and prefer my Bushnell over all.

If it's new as he says, $500 is a bargain.

[artimu]

Can't say I'm a huge fan of Bushnell. If you were talking about paying retail there are others I'd recommend. For that price it's a good deal though.

[Vati]

The lower end Bushnell scopes definitely aren't anything to get exciting about.

The 6500 would be a fine scope for that price though.