anyone have any experience with the new more affordable line of scopes?

Mine broke in 3 shots on a 375 Weatherby. It was a 2-8x32. Others have had good luck. Glass is typical Zeiss clear and sharp. Have 2 friends with 3-9's on 300wsm's and they have held up so far. The eye placement to get good sight picture seems to be very critical. My opinion I love Zeiss Victory. Conquest not so much.

MY 2-8x32 has been on a 375 H&H for a lot of shots and a trip to Africa with no problems, don't give up on it yet. Send it back to Zeiss and try it again. Or you could sell it to me cheap.

Sent it back they let me pick different scope since 2-8 is discoed. Picked 3-9x40 and sold it to one of the guys with the 300wsm mentioned above. Customer service a-1.
Just hard to like scope with instant failure on a dangerous game rifle. Guess it failed at the best possible time at the range during rifle brake in.
The critical eye placement for my eye to get good sight picture is what soured me most. This is not a problem for my eye on the vmv/victory line.

I have a bunch of 1.8-5.5s and 3-9x Conquest scopes. Have them mounted on .338 Win Mag, 9,3x62, .375 H&H, .376 Steyr, .376/.416 Steyr Improved, .416 Rigby and .458 AR.

Had a failure on the .338 Win Mag very early on but none since ... on rifles with MUCH greater recoil.

Very clear, very sharp, very high light transmissivity, and great eye relief! Given the cost, it is my favorite scope brand!

i plan on mounting the scope on a 270 so i am not too concerned about recoil

I've one on a .338-06AI and have nothing but good things to say about it (bought it f2f from a guy in the classified forum here).

My friend just bought one for his .270. Sighted it in last Friday, and it was everything it was supposed to be.

One of the best values out there, IMO. You can get better, but you'll spend a bunch more.

-nosualc

Most big retailers carry this scope. My advice is to go check them out. Have them mount it in one of those scope tester snap in stocks and see if the scope is ok for you as far as sight picture goes for eye position.
No free lunch with optics you get lots of eye relief but a very critical eye position to get full view with this scope compared to other.

I would rather have less eye relief and less critical eye position for full picture in a hunting scope (as we never know what we will be wearing -10F or 85+F)
You will find that the optics are at the top of the price point which is true for most Zeiss products. Basically what doesn"t work for me may be perfect for you. This scope mounted may come up to your sweet spot every time. As has been mentioned many folks are more than happy with the Conquest.
I expected the glass quality to be the way it is but I also expected the forgiveness of the vmv/victory series I was used to using. I guess thats why they have different price points. If you want it all you pays your $$$$$.

This is the first that I have heard about scope failures with Zeiss but that being said there is always going to be a failure at some point with any brand.

I had an old Redfield on my 270 winchester that lasted quit a few seasons before it failed. The problem was it failed in the middle of season shooting at a buck at less than 50 yards. How do you miss at that range right, try with a broken reticle. I sent it back and they fixed it but I bought a Burris Signature posi-lok 3-9x40 and have never regretted it. Burris offers one of the toughest scopes in the industry and deserves a review.

I have a mate who has purchased about 15 of them.

He loves them, reckons they are great value for money.

.

I have the Conquest 3x9x40 on a 7mm Rem Mag - Used it in over 100 degrees to 10 below zero. 10,000+ elevation and below sea level in the desert. I've taken several Elk and Deer after slipping and falling more than a few times on ice and snow and it never loses i'ts zero. I think it is the best bang for the buck and I'll be happy to trade my vari-X 3 for one any day.

It isn't a $2,000 S&B but it is a very good scope and I'd take it on any hunt anywhere.

At the price point they are a very good value, clear optics and long eye relief are it's most toted benefits I also like that the power ring is very smooth compared to a Leo VXII or VXIII,

What is your purpose for the scope? On what gun? and budget?

I really liked the couple I have had.

Also you should be able to get a 3-9x40 new in box for about $350 shipped on ebay.

quote:

Originally posted by bearhunter762:
anyone have any experience with the new more affordable line of scopes?

I have a Conquest 3-9 x 50 on my 300 WSM. Great glass and no problems at all. I took the scope to Africa in August and came back liking it more than when I left!

quote:

Originally posted by j stoviak:

No free lunch with optics you get lots of eye relief but a very critical eye position to get full view with this scope compared to other.

Well said, Mr. Stoviak!

One of the key features of a scope that allows rapid sight picture acquisition and the quick and accurate shooting sometimes required in hunting situations is very forgiving eye placement (both in terms of eye relief and side-to-side margin.) The Zeiss Conquest, like so many scopes manufactured by optics and camera companies which primarily produce optics for other purposes, fails to provide this key feature.

In an attempt to make eye relief both "long" and "constant" while keeping FOV wide, the scope requires very precise eye placement. Precise eye placement is not problem if you always shoot from one position (the bench, for example) and are never hurried.

But if you find yourelf "out of position" with your rifle pointed somewhat higher or lower than usual or find yourself half-twisted in order to get the shot, or need to take a snap shot at game that appeared unexpectedly (like a brown bear hurrying your way from a short distance with dinner on his mind), the very critical eye placement of the Zeiss (and many other brands) does not serve the hunter well.

If you have a gun on which the stock fits you extraordinarily well, the mounts place the scope "just right", and when the gun comes to your shoulder the sight picture is "right there", then you may not notice the critical eye placement on some scopes. But put on a heavy jacket that effectively changes the length of pull, or twist your body 45 degrees like you might when bending around a tree to get a clear shot, and you'll suddenly find that you're seeing only "black" and not the shoulder of that mule deer you expected.

I have 2 of the 1.8-5.5...not a problem..one on a 9.3 x 62 and the other on a 6.5 x 55. I bought them for $299 and $325 and for the money, I haven't seen a better scope so far.

For my money nothing beats a zeiss. I have 28 rifles and all but 2 now wear zeiss and 2 more scopes are in the works.I've never had a problem with a zeiss scope, never been let down. I have them on everything for a marlin 44 mag to a 458 lott and I shoot everything quite often with the lott and my 375 h&h being my favorate.Optics are first rate and better then most. Compair the conquest to the top of the line leupold and you'll fine very little differance other then the conquest is about 1/2 the price. Eye position is no more important the any other scope and if you need to make a snap shot.... well you shouldn't have had a scope on the gun anyway, look at your dg pro ph's and lesser game deserve better respect then that, no need to give the anti's any more reasons to bitch. But anyway , no matter what brand of scope you buy someone, somewhere, sometime is going to get a bad one. With zeiss's lifetime transferable warranty I'm not worried. Untill I find something better for the money zeiss is the only way I'll go but I don't look for that to happen anytime soon. The prices have goin up quite abit in the past year,100.00+ in some cases, I find the best prices on e-bay and cameraland. scopes I payed 270.00 (3x9,4x,1.8x5.5,) ayear ago are now 399.00 and the 6.5x20 are up 300.00. so you might look to buy soon,prices seem to jump at the first of the year for the past 2 to 3 yrs.

I think the important part for me that Stonecreek touched on is the positioning of the scope on the rifle relative to the shooters natural position when shooting.

A scope, and that goes for all scopes, should give you a perfect circular view when the rifle is instinctively shouldered. One should not stretch one's neck to find that perfect circle, nor pull one's head back. This has to do with balancing the scope's eye relief, the stock's LOP and the dimensions of the shooter.

Certain scopes have a tube that is too short, which then forces the shooter to lean into the stock to obtain the perfect circle, and this is a compromise situation and thus not natural.

Another issue, I have seen a rifle with a rather large cheeckpiece and the shooter, who has a rather broad face, was unable to shoot a good group. I watched him and suggested that the cheeckpiece should be thinned for a more natural line up of his eye with the centre (bore) of his scope. He has now sent his rifle in to a gunsmith, and we will see when he gets it back. Again a matter of positioning.

My Zeiss Conquest is mounted correctly, and I do not have this problem of a critical eye box.

Warrior

I pay pretty close attention to eye relief, and found that the Conquest 3-9x40, and the fixed 4x scopes both have 4" of eye relief. So, those are the only two Conquests I own; both are very quick to use on moving game animals. The glass is superior to similarly priced competitor's scopes.
I really like them both. Kind of sad that they ceased making the fixed 4x as where I hunt in the swamps, a fixed 4x is just right.