anthillinside wrote:I'm a big fan of Nikon cameras and lenses so I bought a Prostaff 3-9x40
Dissapointed to say the least, out of focus out of the box, even after having it corrected it's not great.
Though for a cheap scope it's not bad, build quality is good and the turrets are nice and positive, may be I just got a lemon.
Purchased a Votex Diamondback 6-12x40 as a replacement and don't regret it, the only minor dislike is the turrets not as positive ase the Nikon.
My son's got a Leupold 1-4x20 excelent scope, just not strong enough for my eyes.
Guess it proves you get what you pay for.
In that vain I wish I could afford something like a Swarovski or Nightforce just to see what I'm missing out on (or just MISSING )
Well I can tell you my experience with comparing my Nikon Prostaff 3-9x50 and my mates Swaro (can't remember the mag range now) but we were out in the field a while back sighting in his rifles with swaro's on them and we did a little comparison side by side and neither of us could see any real diff!
I've compared them at light last time we were out and I didn't see any great diff there either
And that's not the first time I've compared diff Swaros and Zeiss scopes to the little Nikon either, even one of the higher end Leupolds which was on a mates Sako wasn't as good as the Nikon (the Leupold didn't show the contrast in grass as well at around 300m away) you could see more detail with the Nikon.
I certainly wouldn't have believed it until we did the comparisons - even another fella who we went a way on a trip with was surprised just how well the Nikon went against the Swaro, so much so he went out and bought a Nikon!!
We tested both under a spotlight on a tree at around 300m from memory and again there was SFA diff between them which really surprised him (not me as I'd been comparing the Nikon against the other higher end stuff for a while and really couldn't see anything about the Swaro that said I really need one.
Don't get me wrong nice scopes but the the $$$ I really would want to see something extra special when comparing them to the cheaper stuff, I will say that in the higher mag range I'd go a better brand as I really thing that is where the cheaper ones struggle but for the 3-9x50 range I didn't see anything that would warrant me racing out and buying one.
We are all in or near enough to our 50's so maybe that has something to do with it I don't know (I don't wear glasses and I don't think the other 2 do either)