I recently purchased three Trijicon products, a 1-4x24 Accupoint, a 3-9x Accupoint, and an RMR.

I bought the AccuPoints primarily because I like the no-battery illuminated reticle and because (based on the company's website) the scopes were said to be made in the USA.

Here's the information from the relevanat webpage:

http://www.trijicon.com/na_en/.../made_in_the_usa.php

MADE IN THE USA

Trijicon’s self-illuminated sights and scopes are created and produced in a large, modern, fully equipped facility located on a five-acre site in Wixom, Michigan. Trijicon’s state-of-the-art machining center includes CNC mills and lathes, inspection equipment, and a full array of finishing equipment. The assembly area features two clean rooms that provide a dust-free environment for scope assembly.

Well, after I bought the scopes I see that they are stamped "Made in Japan". Trijicon merely assembles and packages the scopes according to some fine print on the website which I saw too late.

I try very hard to only buy products made in the USA. I don't knowingly buy products made in Japan.

I thought Trijicon was at least the equal to Zeiss or Leupold, for example. I did not expect them to be equivalent to Swarovski or Leica. But even if the scopes are made in the very best factory in Japan they are still third rate. In my opinion, there just aren't any scopes made in Japan that compare to the best from Europe or the USA.

What I think is I own Trijicons that are essentially Bushnell Elite or at best Nikon quality scopes but cost over two times those brands.

And I really don't appreciate the misleading information on the Trijicon website: "created and produced" means something entirely different from assembled and packaged.

I'm not saying Nikon or other Japanese scopes aren't any good, what I'm getting at is paying Zeiss or Leupold prices for a Trijicon and getting essentially a Bushnell/Nikon is not a good deal.

Rant over.

If you honestly think that only products made in the USA can be high quality...

A: you are tripping
B: you have not bought a remington recently

While I do agree that the Trijicon scopes don't really match the glass quality of the Euro Alphas, Trijicon does have one distinct advantage: a batteryless illumination system.

There is value in that option. In my experience being able to see a reticle in the darkest night or adverse conditions is a huge positive. To that end my preferred hunting reticle in lower lift has become a bold No. 1 ret. The Triji is excellent in that regard.

In my perfect world the Triji would have Leica glass...but that's just not the case.

I like to buy "Made in America products. I like the idea of having a battery-free illuminated reticle. My concern, is if you cover the "window" on the Trijicon, it goes dark. It does not appear to store any light.

I haven't hunted with them, but I've looked at them. I might prefer to take multiple batteries, but I welcome thoughts from those who have real experience with them.

Lavaca, that's not exactly true. The triji has two lighting systems. The first is the "window" lighting system that produces a very bright illuminated reticle. The second is a tritium dot. The tritium dot is really only visible in very dark conditions. It's definitely there but it's intentionally dim so as not to ruin night vision.