LPVO Choices - Advice

[MrTea]

As i'm currently in the process of building a DMR, I sold the 3-9x Nuprol optic that came with the base AEG as it only had a minimum magnification of 3x. I briefly considered using a 3x flip down/to side magnifier but would like the ability to have A. adjust windage and elevation for the longer shots and B. have a smooth adjustment through the magnification range so I can have a suitable magnification for the situation. My current options are as follows;

 

• Visionking 1.25-5x26 - £80 - No throw lever
• Victoptics ZOD 1-4x20 - £100 - £60 was from evike europe and they wanted $150 shipping
• RedWin Rynox 1.2-6x24 - £62 <- a recommendation from user on Reddit I found - No throw lever
• Redwin Torero HD 1-6x24 - On sale for $103.35 (£81.35) - Seller has throw arms/rings specifically for this model

• Vector Optics Forester 1-5x24 Gen 2 - £130 - no mil-dots

• Vector Optics Mustang GENII 1-4x30 - £130 - chevron optic

• Vector Optics Grimlock GENII 1-6x24 - £135

• Novritsch 1-4x25 - £85 (I know I know Novritsch bad but i've seen favourable reviews of this)

 

Thoughts, recommendations i've overlooked or general advice?

Edited August 15, 2023 by MrTea

[CrackCommandoUnit1972]

I have the Visionking on one of my rifles. It's good, nice clear glass and a good reticle that and be illuminated either red or blue. I am very happy with it.

 

I can't comment on any of the other optics your have mentioned.

[Impulse]

Take what I say with a pinch of salt as I only like LPVOs on 1.1J builds. Anything at DMR or bolt action power I want a bit more zoom and find that 3x zoom is fine for anything over the 30m MED that comes with the higher power. I also don't have any direct experience with the listed optics, so my post is more just general advice.

 

Adjusting for wind in airsoft is... not a precise science. The muzzle energy is too low and the projectiles are too light to really use wind adjustments on a scope, so I tend to just use the mil-dots and some experience-based judgement on my shots where I adjust for wind. My preference is using the crosshair itself so I like a good crosshair with mil dots over anything else, since the majority of shots I will just use those to adjust for distance and wind. Distance is a lot easier to work out and if you spend time dialling in your rifle you can reliably make shots that other people think are impossible.

 

That said, if you can get both I'd say get something with tool-less adjustment nobs (not under caps either, literally just turnable as they are) AND a mil-dot reticle, then spend a long, long time working out where you need to turn the nobs and where to aim on the reticle to hit at a whole variety of long distances. I still probably wouldn't bother with windage adjustments and just go with mil-dots on that, for the reasons I stated, but for distance I could definitely see the merit; just need to get my rifles to a range without wind as the range at my local site catches the wind and this summer the weather has been wank. Illuminated reticles are nice for low-light situations, so if you can also get that I'd go for it but to me it's the least important aspect of the three.

 

FFP scopes are nice too, but for the distances we deal with I'm not entirely convinced with their usefulness when you consider the price, though I may try getting a Visionking FFP scope to experiment with that.

 

I probably wouldn't go with the Novritsch scope, as you can probably get a better Visionking or Vector Optics for a similar price; that said, I have also heard good things about it, but from someone who really likes a lot of Novritsch's stuff. You don't want to cheap out too much on the scope as you'll be using it a lot and a good scope can really help. Heard good things about it, but I also typically want a bit more than 4x at the highest level so I can double up on recce duties, observing enemy positions and movements from a distance and radioing it in to my team; one of the best games I have had in the past few years was one where I didn't fire a single shot, but radioed in every movement the enemy team made along one part of the site.

[MrTea]

 

37 minutes ago, CrackCommandoUnit1972 said:

I have the Visionking on one of my rifles. It's good, nice clear glass and a good reticle that and be illuminated either red or blue. I am very happy with it.

 

I can't comment on any of the other optics your have mentioned.

Thanks for the info. It just seemed like a too good to be true for £80. That's a nice mount too, did it come with the optic or was it extra? Are adjustments under the caps or are they the one's where you pull them up to adjust?
 

26 minutes ago, Impulse said:

Adjusting for wind in airsoft is... not a precise science. The muzzle energy is too low and the projectiles are too light to really use wind adjustments on a scope, so I tend to just use the mil-dots and some experience-based judgement on my shots where I adjust for wind. My preference is using the crosshair itself so I like a good crosshair with mil dots over anything else, since the majority of shots I will just use those to adjust for distance and wind. Distance is a lot easier to work out and if you spend time dialling in your rifle you can reliably make shots that other people think are impossible.

 

That said, if you can get both I'd say get something with tool-less adjustment nobs (not under caps either, literally just turnable as they are) AND a mil-dot reticle, then spend a long, long time working out where you need to turn the nobs and where to aim on the reticle to hit at a whole variety of long distances.

 

I was concerned about the optics windage/elevation adjustment being under the caps which is why one's i've listed (with the exception of the Visionking which i'm not sure about) have their adjustment on the 'turret' itself and not under a cap. The mil-dot reticule is a good piece of advice rather than adjusting all the time so thanks.

The Victoptic ZOD has all of these features and is the cheapest of the lot while being a 1x rather than 1.2-1.5x. I'm trying to do more research about this as it's apparently not widely known about but this could also be because it's an older & discontinued optic. The RedWin Rynox again has these features but is 1.2x minimum and only £2 more so it could be a contender.

[concretesnail]

I'd second what impulse said. Inhave the vision king lpvo and it works just fine, glass is clear but I still only use it for dmr or sniper. I don't use it in general as the prefer a straight up red dot for closer work as I fond the eye relief better and the 1.5 isn't quite as easy to ignore for me as I'd like. 

For dmr use or anything with a MED its perfect. Use the adjustment dials to zero it and then take the time to learn the holds so you aren't messing with adjustments in game. Bbs just aren't consistent in the wind to make full use of that functionality. 

[CrackCommandoUnit1972]

22 minutes ago, MrTea said:

 

Thanks for the info. It just seemed like a too good to be true for £80. That's a nice mount too, did it come with the optic or was it extra? Are adjustments under the caps or are they the one's where you pull them up to adjust?
 

 

I was concerned about the optics windage/elevation adjustment being under the caps which is why one's i've listed (with the exception of the Visionking which i'm not sure about) have their adjustment on the 'turret' itself and not under a cap. The mil-dot reticule is a good piece of advice rather than adjusting all the time so thanks.

The Victoptic ZOD has all of these features and is the cheapest of the lot while being a 1x rather than 1.2-1.5x. I'm trying to do more research about this as it's apparently not widely known about but this could also be because it's an older & discontinued optic. The RedWin Rynox again has these features but is 1.2x minimum and only £2 more so it could be a contender.

The only thing mine came with was a metal kill flash and the flip up scope covers. The mount was a £20 job from Amazon. 

 

The other thing I forgot to mention is that adjusting the zoom can be a pain so a throw lever is a good idea. Again you can get them cheap from ebay.

[MrTea]

So after more than a few hours trawling the internet and weighing up my options i've decided to go for an optic that wasn't in the initial list which may be a gamble. I've put in an order for the RedWin Torero HD 1-6x24 IR (SFP). On sale with $56 off bringing it down to $103.35 (about £82) this includes a one-piece mount, killflash, lens caps and cleaning cloths. I ordered a throw lever/ring they have for this model of their optics for another $10. Shipping to the UK is $6.30.

 

I woke up to an email this morning with a partial refund and another email to let me know the optic actually comes with a throw lever/ring for free and they just refunded me the cost of the it. That's pretty decent customer service right off the bat.

 

I would have just went for the Victoptics ZOD but Evike Europe wanted $150 in shipping. Every other store I found it at were priced higher than the RedWin option so i've taken the gamble especially which is offset a fair bit when the total is <£90.

 

Edit: Interestingly the tracking just updated an hour or so ago and it's journey is starting in the Netherlands. If this is correct it might only take a few days to arrive.

Edited August 16, 2023 by MrTea

[Badgerlicious]

I see you've made your pick. For anyone else deciding, or if this doesn't work out for you, I have the victoptics s6 1-6x24. It's an excellent sight for 1-4x magnification, great quality within that range with excellent eye relief, but seems to lose focus at 5x and 6x, but for airsoft that isn't an issue. From what I understand vector/vict optics is a chinese brand that makes budget scopes for real guns, not just cheap airsoft ones. So they tend to be a bit more robust that your typical amazon's choice deal. 

 

Btw for scopes I highly recommend opticswarehouse. Uk company, they have a good range of stuff and nicely detailed info pages. 

[RostokMcSpoons]

I have the visionking and it's held up well to the recoil of my GBBR, so it's a good scope.  I would have preferred a true 1x minimum magnification (though it has to be said mine usually sits at 2-3x through a game), so I like the look of your choice.  That one piece mount looks good too.

[Fatboy40]

Just wondering where you guys have been buying the Visionking 1.25-5x26 from? (and if there are any recommendations for a compatible throw lever and mount?).

 

I need to bite the bullet as the usual Eotech G33 clone on my DMR at 3x is not enough magnification when I'm playing at a big outdoor site  (and I was getting some glare from between the magnifier and the red dot)

[RostokMcSpoons]

Bought mine from the classifieds here.  And my throw lever is one of those Coaster zip tie things.

 

There's a thread on here somewhere...

 

Edit: link to my original post about it

Edited August 22, 2023 by RostokMcSpoons

[MrTea]

1 hour ago, Fatboy40 said:

Just wondering where you guys have been buying the Visionking 1.25-5x26 from? (and if there are any recommendations for a compatible throw lever and mount?).

 

I need to bite the bullet as the usual Eotech G33 clone on my DMR at 3x is not enough magnification when I'm playing at a big outdoor site  (and I was getting some glare from between the magnifier and the red dot)

 

Amazon. Any 30cm ring/cantilever mount will work such as this. Not sure about throw lever, you'd have to ask others

[CrackCommandoUnit1972]

I got one of these for mine:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WestHunter-Optics-Switchview-Magnification-Adjustment/dp/B08QRJ574Z/ref=sr_1_5?crid=PPJAL4ICD8YJ&keywords=throw%2Blever&qid=1692652967&sprefix=throw%2Blever%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-5&th=1

 

I got the 46mm version which was bit too large so I had to shim it with some tape. The 44mm version should fit. Make sure you get the version with the notch as otherwise it wont fit.

[GothicGhost]

I also have a visionking x1.5-x6 one going on 4+ years and it works perfect for £70 I paid for it.

I did not go for the short dot version as I wanted wider FOV.

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by GothicGhost

[Fatboy40]

@GothicGhost Now I'm even more unsure of which Visionking to get, but in a good way  

[Lozart]

Just to throw some more confusion in to the mix, I have a Gen 1 Mustang SFP scope, the Victoptics S6 (1-6 x 24 SFP) and I had the original version of what is now the Victoptics ZOD 1-4 (mine was FFP).

 

Victoptics are the "budget" range of Vector Optics products but they are definitely better than most other cheap units. The S6 comes with a throw lever for the magnification ring too.

 

They've all been fantastic scopes. The ones that go down to x1 are true x1, they hold their zero and will survive most ham fisted treatment. I say most because apparently if an 18 stone bloke falls arse over tit and lands on it, it bends.

[Badgerlicious]

6 hours ago, Lozart said:

Just to throw some more confusion in to the mix, I have a Gen 1 Mustang SFP scope, the Victoptics S6 (1-6 x 24 SFP) and I had the original version of what is now the Victoptics ZOD 1-4 (mine was FFP).

 

Victoptics are the "budget" range of Vector Optics products but they are definitely better than most other cheap units. The S6 comes with a throw lever for the magnification ring too.

 

They've all been fantastic scopes. The ones that go down to x1 are true x1, they hold their zero and will survive most ham fisted treatment. I say most because apparently if an 18 stone bloke falls arse over tit and lands on it, it bends.

The S6 is truly a great scope. And I forgot to point out the one thing that sets it above all others, a really, really cool reticle. 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Badgerlicious

[Fatboy40]

@GothicGhost Do you have a model number for your "Visionking x1.5-x6"? (I'm building up my shortlist and if I do buy one I wanted to get it right first time). 

 

(I think it's the VS1.5-6X42XL ?)

Edited August 26, 2023 by Fatboy40

[ParHunter]

I was looking at the Vector Optics Forestor Gen 2 1-5. I tried it out at PatrolBase and really liked it. But before I could buy it I played a game, stumbled over a root that was sticking out and fell flat on the ground with my gun in front of me. If I would have had a scope on it there would have been a good chance that it would have broken. That convinced me to spend £70 more and get a Vortex Crossfire 2 1-4 as the Vortex Warranty would have covered that accident. 

Edited September 2, 2023 by ParHunter