If you are hunting late you NEED good binocs, they are twice as good as the best scope for seeing late. PERIOD>

Not to mention it is safer to NOT point a loaded gun at an unidentified target.

Midway has the VX6 with firedot 4 reticle for $849.99 right now

Yep

Unless you are shooting over 200 yards,I don't know of any over $200 scopes that shouldn't take you to legal shooting light.

I played with a 2-10X42 Leica ERi this past summer that would have allowed 150 yard shots at 10pm due to the excellent illuminated reticle. I would recommend the 50mm Leica ERI for the best low light scope,but I don't think you will buy one under $1000,and like I said ,I don't really think it's 100% necessary.

I think hunters have been placing way too much emphasis on glass and illumination rather than rock solid build quality and adjustments. As a result we have a market full of scopes with great glass and low dependability.Don't really matter though because most hunters don't shoot very much or demand very much accuracy or repeatibility.

wisdom ^

Leupold or Steiner models in 1k range. Can't go wrong with either

Guess I am lucky. I have had exactly one scope failure and is because I dropped the rifle.

How much do you shoot? Ever cranked the turret to shoot longer ranges and then back to your zero? Was it back perfect? If it wasn't,that's a failure.

Ever go to sight it in before season and have to adjust a few clicks,that's a failure.

That's what I'm talking about,mostly these failures don't matter to hunters who sight in just before hunting season and probably won't shoot 5 times till next season.

To get into the Ultra High quality RH that You are speaking of that would be the S&B PM II's and the Hendsolt's when You are talking about tracking perfectly with adjustments and Absolute perfection. There is a Good reason why the United States Marine Corp has a contract with Schmidt & Bender for the S&B PM II scopes. Most people simply can not afford absolute perfection when it comes to Optics.

Well,the SWFA fixed 6X tracks and holds zero perfectly for just $350. Glass quality isn't equal to S&B but it is sufficient for hunting.The reason hunters don't have perfect tracking and zero holding is because when evaluating any scope that isn't what they talk about. All anyone wants to know is how the view looks. We don't have it because we don't demand it as being the number one priority,because most hunters are like your friend Bubba,who might shoot a box of Walmart ammo every 5 years at deer less than 100 yards away. He just doesn't really need it because it doesn't matter if his scope is off 3 inches between shots and he doesn't shoot enough to know if it is anyway.

Some other perfect tracking scopes other than the higher end you listed are the SWFA SS 3-9X42 HD which sells for $450 once every black Friday and has glass comparable to a Leupold VX3. The Bushnell LRHS scopes track and hold perfectly for about $700 on sale and have even better glass. All the Nightforce line tracks as well.

Lord have mercy.

Yes, I agree with you. There's one threshold for being able to place a shot on "a deer" out at 100 yards against a backdrop of heavy brush at 30 minutes past sunset, and another threshold of being able to identify that deer and make a decent judgement of its rack. My experience is at true last light, only really good binoculars will allow you to judge a deer at any distance against a brush backdrop. (while a decent scope will still allow you to "shoot at" that same deer).

To answer the OP's question, I've had very good luck with my Meopta R2 2.5-15x56. It's hard to imagine any scope being much brighter or more clear. I think it's technically discontinued, but is available at various website still.

X2

Look,ya'll are welcome to your opinion,but it's not just me that feels that way. I've shot the SWFA scopes and have a Nightforce on the way and they track a lot better than anything I've ever used including lots of Leupolds and Swarovski,and Zeiss, Kahles.

I never said other scopes wouldn't adjust or that they wouldn't be perfectly fine to hunt with.I just see no reason why we can't have perfect tracking and great glass when we can have perfect tracking in a $300 SWFA scope.If it can be had in a scope that cheap cost is not the issue.

The reason we don't have it is because of attitudes just like yours.

Your title needs to be the resident skin flint for crying out loud.

How many times a season are you dialing your scope to make a shot on a deer?

Looking forward to that answer

I think we all know what it'll be.

Good for you RH. I will stick with my trash scopes.

You keep tracking and whacking those paper targets.