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I have a Leapers illuminated scope on my old RWS .177 piston air rifle!
We feed the birds at our house, so, plenty of unwanted rodents. At night I leave a dim light on in the bedroom, shade up. With the crosshairs lit l can sit on the patio and snipe the little betards for as long as they keep coming. Always get at least a few, sometimes several!
It is the only illuminated scope I own, and I have to remove the batterys or it will suck them dry in no time! It's Chinese after all!:)
 
Deer, Elk, Coyotes, Cougars, Big Horn Sheep, Antelope, are all light colored. Bears, Moose, and Wolves can be any version of grey, brown, or black. If I am shooting paper I get to choose a target that works best for me, one that stands out. So far I'm not seeing any real good reason to use one on a a regular basis. "Occasionally might be handy" is not a good enough reason to me to justify the expense, weight and complexity that illumination adds to a scope.

If you hunt in the timber for deer or elk around here (Coast to Cascades), especially on overcast or rainy days, you won't think that deer or elk are light colored during the 30 min before sunrise and after sunset. It is extremely easy to lose the crosshairs during this time. Good glass really helps in this type of light, but often times isn't good enough. If it's raining, the time you would appreciate the illuminated reticle would be extended. I've also hunted elk around LaGrande and can tell you that the conditions in eastern Oregon rarely match what we deal with on the "wet side" of the state. There have been a couple of times I appreciated it over "there", but can see the OP's concern about amount of usage.
I have a Leupold VX-R. The little "Fire dot" is great for times like this, plus it can be turned off when it's not as dark.
There are a few other things I'm not thrilled with on this scope, but the illumination is the reason I bought it.
 
Reticles that light up are for hunting. For me at least. If I remember to turn it on. But when used in low light, it's best to have a scope with decent glass, or it's pointless to me.
 
Found 3, starting with 142 or something. That pretty much made my point.

Here's what I searched for, power between 1-10, price between $300 and $900, bdc reticle, objective smaller than 39mm. Non-illuminated.

It came back with 7 scopes, 3 had illumination, 1 was a fixed power. So I am left with 3 choices. I run into the same thing when I go looking at Vortex optics too. And Burris, Weaver, Nikon, you get the idea.

I feel like I'm shopping for a car with a manual transmission, there is alot out there until I want just one specific thing.

And yeah, I could just take the battery out (I already have), but that isn't the point. I would be alot happier if the electronics weren't in the scope to begin with, and I wasn't paying for features I don't want.


Roop: Did you ever end up finding and buying a scope? I looked over the lastest new Sightron scopes for 2016, and they have a new 2-10x32mm that is pretty compact and not heavy. It is available with a standard duplex or Sighton's fancy HHR 2nd generation reticle. I've had good results myself in the past with Sightron scopes.

Here is a video if you would like to take a look:

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It has impressive specs and features:

Sightron Riflescopes S-TAC Series S-TAC2-10x32HHR2 (http://info.sightron.com/Riflescopes/S-TAC-Series/S-TAC2-10x32HHR2/)

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sighhdpic26010.jpg
 
Roop: Did you ever end up finding and buying a scope? I looked over the lastest new Sightron scopes for 2016, and they have a new 2-10x32mm that is pretty compact and not heavy. It is available with a standard duplex or Sighton's fancy HHR 2nd generation reticle. I've had good results myself in the past with Sightron scopes.

Here is a video if you would like to take a look:

.

It has impressive specs and features:

Sightron Riflescopes S-TAC Series S-TAC2-10x32HHR2 (http://info.sightron.com/Riflescopes/S-TAC-Series/S-TAC2-10x32HHR2/)

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I kinda settled on a Vortex Diamondback HP in a 2-8X32 with a BDC type reticle. Still haven't picked one up yet, but had a scope on one of my .22s take a dump on me a couple weeks ago so I am looking a bit harder again. I keep hoping I'll head to Boise and pick one up at Sportsmans.
 
I remember an article in Precision Shooting magazine about illuminated reticles. They did a lot of testing. They found a need for it in night shooting, it really helped, but only if a low enough setting was available (and often it was not). Otherwise, you lost your night vision when looking into the scope! They tried to get the illumination down by putting in a resistor and other such dodges. But this was long ago when the feature was rare. I still think the illumination is too high most of the time, even on the lowest settings. I do like the ones that vary the amount of illumination automatically due to how bright it is outside, but I still prefer a lower starting point.
 
I kinda settled on a Vortex Diamondback HP in a 2-8X32 with a BDC type reticle. Still haven't picked one up yet, but had a scope on one of my .22s take a dump on me a couple weeks ago so I am looking a bit harder again. I keep hoping I'll head to Boise and pick one up at Sportsmans.

I think that it would be a good idea to check out any scope before you buy it. If buying sight unseen, I would only order from a mail order website if they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back, which some of them do.

Besides that nifty new Sightron that I mentioned earlier ( which is discounted to only $299 at Adorama.com ), I think that Weaver's Grand Slam 2-8x36mm might also be another good option to consider. It is usually selling around $375, although I saw it on sale at bhphotovideo.com for only $329.

Oddly enough, I have found that these two big Manhattan photography web retailers B&H Photo and Adorama very often undercut the prices offered at traditional sporting goods or optical websites for riflescopes. My last 4 riflescopes have been purchased from either Adorama or B&H, because of their good pricing.

For example, that Vortex model that you are looking at is only $225 at B&H Photo, which is a really quite a good price. And they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee return policy too.

Between those two websites, one can find just about any brand of scope. The only major scope brand I know of that they both do not carry is Nikon. But Nikon is very protective of the selling prices for their scopes. So they don't like to sell through dealers like these two that discount more.

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