Old vs new. I know the old ones are better. How do you tell the difference?

I THINK the old ones were simply a "Conquest" .

The later models were the Conquest HD5 and now they are a Conquest V4, V6 and V8

All i have are the older Conquests, but aren't the new ones supposedly made in Germany now? The old ones were stamped "Assembled in USA"

I don't think the old ones were necessarily better. They were all Meopta scopes rebranded Zeiss. I do think the new Conquests are made in Germany and some maybe in Japan.

Not sure, but the "old" ones were pretty darn good.

Zeiss can't seem to stick with anything. Not sure what that says but to me that isn't a positive thing. I think they screwed up big when they dropped the Conquest line. I have been unimpressed with what they offer vs other scopes in that $1k price point they seem to be chasing. Seems to me that their competition is now steeper in that $1k range than it would have been if they had just stuck with the old Conquest line.

Older conquest scopes were a rebranded Meopta Meopro scope and are good clear scopes, with good light transmission to get it done past legal light. The HD5 line replaced them and were slightly better light transmission, but suffered from a little tunnel vision. I've owned several of each and still have a couple of each and I like them both. If you have an opportunity to pick up either of these at a good price I would do it.

But Zeiss has been getting kicked around in the market over the last 10 years and keeps switching up their product lines in an attempt to keep up. I'm like Goat in that I don't really care for any of their current product lines when compared to their competition in the same price range. Last Zeiss I bought was a conquest V4 6x24. Pretty good scope but nothing great and I will replace it one day when funding is available. Unless Zeiss makes some changes, I will be looking elsewhere in the future.

I think you are referring to the “Terra” which replaced the “old” Conquest line. The Terra was cheaper and inferior to the former Conquest.

The newer Conquest (HD5, V4, V6, etc.) should be equal or better than the old Conquest but I don’t have first hand experience with them.

I have 3 older Conquest 3-9 and 3-10 50mm scopes and one old 3-9x40. I'll buy any more 50mm or 56mm I find for sale at a good price (paid $350-375 for the 50's I have and would pay up to $450 for a 56mm). I think they're great scopes for the money. I'm sure you can find something else in a Vortex or GPO or similar that's just as good. My thought process is I can ALWAYS sell the ones I have for at or near what I have in them. Resale on the lesser known brands might not be as easy.