Well, my old VX3 1.5x5 quit on me about a month ago. After each shot at 5X, the lens would blur until I reduced the setting to 3X or so and then turned it back up to 5X. I sent it to the factory, and it was returned to me fixed in 3 weeks. There was no charge for fixing the scope.

Very boring, very good service. I'll buy their products as long as they continue their excellent customer service.

I've been using Leupolds almost exclusively since purchasing my first one in 1965. I've probably owned 50 or more of them through the years.

A couple of weeks ago I sent them my first problem scope, a very old Vari-X II with the larger objective. Groups were wandering around on the paper suspiciously, but settled down when I mounted a new Leupold Century model in its place.

It hasn't come back yet, but I would assume that they get pretty busy this time of year just before hunting season. I'll make a report on my first experience in 42 years with Leupold's vaunted service department whenever the old Vari-X comes back.

Update, 8-31: Got an email from Leupold yesterday that the repaired scope has been shipped. Will report on how satisfactory the repair is when it is received. I appreciate them letting you know when an item has been shipped as it allows you to know about when to look for it and whether you can count on having it by the time of your hunt or whatever.

You're VX-3 failed, and you're happy with that!!! I will NEVER buy another Leupold, they have the highest failure rate of any scope in their respective price range, and the poorest optics in their price range!!!

My scope was quite old, so I can't complain after years of hard service. Besides, even the best products can break.

It's just that good customer service is so rare these days.

quote:

Originally posted by analog_peninsula:
My scope was quite old, so I can't complain after years of hard service. Besides, even the best products can break.

It's just that good customer service is so rare these days.

Is your scope a VariX III or a newer VXIII??
The VXIII's only been out since 2004??

Leupolds CS is outstanding, at any rate.

Sorry about the confusion. It is a VariX III, and much older than 2004.

quote:

Originally posted by ScudRunner:
You're VX-3 failed, and you're happy with that!!! I will NEVER buy another Leupold, they have the highest failure rate of any scope in their respective price range, and the poorest optics in their price range!!!

Hat's off to you, Scud! Without people like you Leupold would have the market completely cornered and their prices would be even higher than they are now. Your willingness to purchase marginal Asian products (as well as your professed belief in their superiority) is helping hold Leupold prices down and keeping Leupold availability up. Keep up the good work!

Oh, and for any of you guys that are on the fence about what kind of scope you should buy, as I say, I've owned at least 50 Leupolds in 40 years AND ALL OF THEM WERE CRAP! Couldn't see a blazing bondfire on a moonless night through a one of them. Damn near all of them fogged up, and most of the finish fell off. I kept buying them just because I couldn't believe that the next one could possibly be as sorry as the last one, but, by god, it was. Now I'm stuck with all of them as almost no one will give you anything for them, that is unless you consider 85% of the new price a realistic offer for a fifteen year old scope.

If you want a good scope, look for the name of some camera company and "Made in China" in little bitty letters somewhere on the tube or the box.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:

quote:

Originally posted by ScudRunner:
You're VX-3 failed, and you're happy with that!!! I will NEVER buy another Leupold, they have the highest failure rate of any scope in their respective price range, and the poorest optics in their price range!!!

Hat's off to you, Scud! Without people like you Leupold would have the market completely cornered and their prices would be even higher than they are now. Your willingness to purchase marginal Asian products (as well as your professed belief in their superiority) is helping hold Leupold prices down and keeping Leupold availability up. Keep up the good work!

Oh, and for any of you guys that are on the fence about what kind of scope you should buy, as I say, I've owned at least 50 Leupolds in 40 years AND ALL OF THEM WERE CRAP! Couldn't see a blazing bondfire on a moonless night through a one of them. Damn near all of them fogged up, and most of the finish fell off. I kept buying them just because I couldn't believe that the next one could possibly be as sorry as the last one, but, by god, it was. Now I'm stuck with all of them as almost no one will give you anything for them, that is unless you consider 85% of the new price a realistic offer for a fifteen year old scope.

If you want a good scope, look for the name of some camera company and "Made in China" in little bitty letters somewhere on the tube or the box.

That's funny!!

Leupold's customer service is good for a reason. As they say, practice makes perfect!

All kidding aside, though, Leupold does make a good, solid line of scopes and has a fairly stellar reputation in customer service. I've owned and still have a few of them. They are as rugged and durable as anything out there.

But I prefer the best value for my hard-earned money, and to that end, I generally choose Nikon Monarchs, which, in comparable models, feature better resolving power, superior edge-to-edge clarity and better low-light contrast along with an undeniable advantage in light transmission --all a better price. They are similar in dealing with flare, with a slight edge again going to the "camera company."

As to Asian optics, anyone want to take a guess as to where Leupold's glass and such optic lines as Wind River and Rifleman actually come from? It ain't the USA...

I just put the new VXL on my muzzleloader and I;m really impressed at the clarity and light gathering..........wapiti7

quote:

Originally posted by Bobby Tomek:
As to Asian optics, anyone want to take a guess as to where Leupold's glass and such optic lines as Wind River and Rifleman actually come from? It ain't the USA...

Most, if not all, optical glass now comes from Asia. It is the cheapest and easiest component to manufacture in any optical instrument these days. The reason so many modestly priced optical instruments are so optically clear these days is because glass has never been cheaper or better. There may be a little glass being ground in Europe, but I'll bet that most used in European optics comes from Asia. But just because good optical glass comes from Asia doesn't mean that Asian manufacturers know much of anything about putting together a proper OPTICAL GUNSIGHT.

I don't think that the Rifleman series of scopes is manufactured in Asia, but then I've never used or examined one closely, so I could be mistaken. Besides, I'm not going to be buying a scope of any kind at Walmart. The lines of Leupold and Wind River binoculars that are not made in the U.S. were, until recently, made in Japan, and were pretty good for the most part. Recently, Leupold switched its supplier to China for the Wind River line and quality dropped off noticeably. I'm not interested in buying any of their Chinese products that I've seen.

Most of the proprietary and contract scopes distributed under various name brands that were/are made in Japan are from the venerable optics company Hakko. Hakko makes lines of varying quality, but are capable of making excellent optics. Unfortuantely, as costs rose in Japan, importer/branders like Meade, which now owns the Weaver and Redfield names (talk about your name being dragged through the mud), moved production to places like Taiwan, the Phillipines, and China. One of the worst travesties I know of is the "All American" brand of Burris, which was founded by personnel from the late, great Redfield Gunsight Company. They are importing most of their stuff from the Phillipines. Burris never did get it quite right with their engineering and craftsmanship (much less customer service) for their American-made scopes, but what I've seen of their Filipino stuff is just plain trash.

Stonecreek-

You are absolutely correct. I, too, would never purchase the Rifleman or Wind River series.

In fact, an older gentleman recently brought me his battered Winchester Model 70 in 30-06. For years, it wore an equally battered Bushnell Banner 6x40. I checked the sight-in for him every year for some time now, and it generally needed little, if any, adjustment. With it, he took many deer here in south central TX.

Well, on his last visit, he proudly handed over a Leupold Rifleman that he wanted installed, so I kindly obliged.

For starters, even at 9x in good (soft) light, I could not clearly discern the .30 caliber bullet holes in the target -- and the scope was focused as good as it could possibly be. The resolving ability of that scope was just poor, and the lack of edge-to-edge clarity would give anyone a headache over an extended range session.

To make a long story short, I sighted it in at 150 yards with his favorite load -- just as I've done many times over the years. When he came to get it, he wanted to take a look through the scope. Then he asked if he could shoot it. He fumbled with the eyepiece a bit, tried a couple of shots, gave me a puzzled look and then asked my opinion. He, too, could not clearly see the bullet holes, and he said, to him it was "like looking into a barrel of cloudy water" compared to his quarter-century old Bushnell.

Before he left, he elected to have me put the old Banner 6x back on his rifle.

To me, that pretty much summarizes the entire Rifleman lineup.