Please someone call Leupold and tell them to calm the hell down

[DEADTIME]

This is getting out of hand, I'm trying to pick out a scope and and Leupold has decided that it needs 40 various levels of scope with 20 scopes in each level and somehow I'm suppose to make sense of it all and pick one before I wonder off to stare at my navel. Leupold makes some awesome scopes but beyond the sticker shock is the confusion!

Seriously Leupold has a lot of competition these days yet between their prices and their grades/levels/uses/reticles choices I would do just as well throwing a dart at their catalog.

Need to kill ground hogs? why yes sir try the VX2/1414 atx R G 4040.....want to shoot deer why yes sir try the Mark 4 STSR 9034 4.96X30X50 SSR.
Oh you need to shoot a black eyed cocoburra feldinger try the new XIX 40X40 mark 8 model 10,000....yes sir that's the one....with the limited edition feldinger slayer reticle!

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[Flopsweat]

OK, let's take this one step at a time.

1. What gun are you going to put it on?
2. What are you going to use the gun for?
3. What is the shortest distance you will shoot it?
4. What is the longest distance you will shoot it?
5. What extra features do you like?
6. What features do you hate?
7. How much are you willing to spend?
8. Do you feel calmer now, or are you cursing my name under your breath?

Seriously, having too many options is an American tradition. Embrace it.

 

[jonn5335]

OK, let's take this one step at a time.

1. What gun are you going to put it on?
2. What are you going to use the gun for?
3. What is the shortest distance you will shoot it?
4. What is the longest distance you will shoot it?
5. What extra features do you like?
6. What features do you hate?
7. How much are you willing to spend?
8. Do you feel calmer now, or are you cursing my name under your breath?

Seriously, having too many options is an American tradition. Embrace it.

9. What reticle do you prefer?
10. Illuminated reticle or standard?
11. Moa or mil?
12. If moa 1/2,1/4 or 1/8?
13. IF mil 1/10 or 1/20?
14. Side focus?
Awwwww screw it im buying a Nightforce a lot less options to pick from

 

[BillyDa59]

It's about time they released the feldinger slayer reticle. I've been having to make due with a silly, antiquated duplex reticle for WAY too long and it just doesn't work as well as a purpose-made piece of equipment.

In all seriousness though, I looked at the Leupold website just today and the way they have their rifle scopes organized is a bit weird, but then again, I can't say that I'd be able to organize that many different scopes any better.

I do think its reasonable how they make hundreds of different scopes though, even though most of them are the same scopes with small variations. Its just a marketing thing. If you have a very specific product that a customer feels is almost as unique as him/herself, then they are more likely to buy it with the confidence that they didn't have to 'settle' for some other product that might not be exactly what they were looking for.

At any rate, if the website was a tad difficult for me to navigate, I don't even want to see how the scopes are organized in the catalog.

 

[Kevatc]

This is getting out of hand, I'm trying to pick out a scope and and Leupold has decided that it needs 40 various levels of scope with 20 scopes in each level and somehow I'm suppose to make sense of it all and pick one before I wonder off to stare at my navel. Leupold makes some awesome scopes but beyond the sticker shock is the confusion!

Seriously Leupold has a lot of competition these days yet between their prices and their grades/levels/uses/reticles choices I would do just as well throwing a dart at their catalog.

Need to kill ground hogs? why yes sir try the VX2/1414 atx R G 4040.....want to shoot deer why yes sir try the Mark 4 STSR 9034 4.96X30X50 SSR.
Oh you need to shoot a black eyed cocoburra feldinger try the new XIX 40X40 mark 8 model 10,000....yes sir that's the one....with the limited edition feldinger slayer reticle!

I agree! Like those Leupold's but good grief which one do I like? I can never remember. By the way, I hear they are coming out with a hairy backed stinging nebicus reticle on the 1-4x 30 or was that the 3-8x 40 with the zoom?????? Or was it .......????

 

[One-Eyed Ross]

Let me know if they come out with a scope to hunt the banded bulbous snarfblat.

 

[pioneer461]

As a former Leupold employee, I can explain it very easilly. Profit. If they make them and sell them at a profit, they will keep making them. If there is no profit, the line will be discontinued. They try to make products to cover as much of the hunting / shooting market as possible. It's that simple.
(I worked for them for 5 years and parted company on good terms when I got a better offer.)

 

[Mark W.]

Look at Mueller scopes a whole lot less choices a good rep with the guys using them and generally at a lower price then the Leopuld they would cross referance with.

I have two of them and really like how they perform

 

[Ironbar]

Let me know if they come out with a scope to hunt the banded bulbous snarfblat.

LMFAO!

 

[erudne]

This happened to me once in Boot Camp
the reply was: Sounds Like A Personal Problem; see the Padre on Sunday, now get back in line, (pssi).

 

[PaulZ]

I need a dictionary!

9. What reticle do you prefer?
10. Illuminated reticle or standard?
11. Moa or mil?
12. If moa 1/2,1/4 or 1/8?
13. IF mil 1/10 or 1/20?
14. Side focus?
Awwwww screw it im buying a Nightforce a lot less options to pick from

 

[OFADAN]

And Leupold has an extremely competent well trained staff of professional at their free Technical Support Team who can assist you with your selection. Call their 800 number and ask for Tech Support. Be prepared to leave a number and they will call you back.

 

[Kevatc]

Let me know if they come out with a scope to hunt the banded bulbous snarfblat.

See! Thar ya go! One more reticle and varmint (it is a varmint I am guessing) to try and decide on.

I am so indecisive due to choices that I am going to mount a spotting scope then mount a 10x41.873 on top of that and then on top of that I am going to mount a 3x9.871, then put a 1x4 illuminated on that then put a red dot on that. Of course I'll put BUIS on that. All in all I guess I'll be shooting my BB gun like a mortar. But, heck I got every range covered. I think.

 

[eldbillbo]

Just go with the leupold vari x 2 every thing else is either a lower end version (cheaper glass) or a higher end $600+ scope (goes to 11)

but with a vari x 2 its as good as it needs to be. This has been serving hunters and shooters for many many years.


actually step away from the catalog and step away from the web sites . go to bi mart . they have narrowed it down for you to maybe 2 or 3 of them . look through them and pick 1.

 

[U201494]

This is getting out of hand, I'm trying to pick out a scope and and Leupold has decided that it needs 40 various levels of scope with 20 scopes in each level and somehow I'm suppose to make sense of it all and pick one before I wonder off to stare at my navel. Leupold makes some awesome scopes but beyond the sticker shock is the confusion!

This irritating trend started in the prophylactic industry in the early '90s and has spread to every product known to man. Eventually most of us end up returning to that base model that hooked us in the first place with maybe one or two upgrades and call it good.
As was stated earlier, we are Americans and we love our variety.

 

[eldbillbo]

The simple reason that you can't make up your mind is the simple reason why they made it so complicated

As said just buy the Vari X2 its been around for many years before all the mumbo jumbo scopes and will do just about every thing you need a scope to do

 

[Kevatc]

This irritating trend started in the prophylactic industry in the early '90s and has spread to every product known to man. Eventually most of us end up returning to that base model that hooked us in the first place with maybe one or two upgrades and call it good.
As was stated earlier, we are Americans and we love our variety.

Condoms ... gun scopes .....? yea, yea I get it ..... I think.

 

[Flopsweat]

Condoms ... gun scopes .....? yea, yea I get it ..... I think.

Safety first!

"I carry them for pretection..."

 

[Spitpatch]

eldbillbo is the voice in the wilderness. Since the OP seems concerned mainly with hunting, there is simply NOTHING than cannot be done in the practical hunting field with a VXII 3x-9x, Duplex reticle. That is why this scope sells more than ALL the other scopes Leupold makes combined.

The plethora of variations and choices is (as many here have stipulated) market driven. If not for the current trend amongst shooters and hunters that it is gadgetry that gets the game, and the newest thing is the best thing (both false premises), Leupold would have retained their moderate line of what Leupold knew were all the choices one would ever truly need for any application. To survive and succeed, honestly, they need to offer things nobody really needs but everybody thinks they want.

The finest example of this is the 50mm objective. Leupold resisted offering this feature practically until EVERYBODY else had it in their line. Leupold engineers and optical designers KNEW the "light gathering advantage" was nothing but a myth, and that such a scope (along with other disadvantages) brings with it all sorts of mounting problems, etc. Finally, when the uneducated shooting public started scarfing up 50mm scopes (from other manufacturers) driven by the myth, Leupold HAD to get in the game. They did it reluctantly, but included with each scope an explanation in the instruction booklet about the dubious advantages of the 50mm: what it does do, and what it doesn't do (because the human eye can only process so much "gathered" ----incorrect term--- light).

Basically, they told the purchaser, "Okay, Nimrod, here's your huge-arse scope. But there's some things you should know." Of course most Nimrods never read the booklet, traipsed off into the hunting field thinking they had a game-getting advantage over their buddy with the garden-variety 40mm. And, as has been the case since the dawn of time, the hunter who relies on the basics of tried and true equipment and spends his time in practice and in the field (rather than chasing each new shiny object that comes along), somehow manages to bring home more mammoths to the cave.

 

[Medic!]

You tellin me they sell more than the 3x9 from Bi-Mart?