I’ll chime in here. I bought my D15V42FIMLX (MIL, Tactical, Illumi, Shuriken lock) in Jan ‘24 to replace My Leupold X-5HD with offset red dot. The March improved with glass quality, length, locking turrets, illumination, and not having to cant between the offset. After some time behind the March, comparing them for hours to my (Mark 5HD 5-25, VX-5HD 3-15 and new Steiner T6XI 5-30) I was confused and frustrated.
First, the glass is better than the Steiner & Leupolds, fit & finish a big step up, crazy compact compared to even the 3-15, and the Shurken locks are solid. I was disappointed with the edge clarity, chromatic aberration, and depth of field when zooming and out…to the point of regretting my decision and wondering if I could return it. After rereading
@Glassaholic impressive, detailed comparison on Snipers Hide, I found The Dark Lord of Optic’s video on diopter setting. I reset the diopter using 10x power in a dark room with an illuminated wall a couple feet beyond the objective. WOW! GAME CHANGER!
An innovative, industry leading design that nails all these features: locking, illumination, timepiece precision, exit pupil, field of view, weight, magnification range…..doing it while presenting it in a 10.6” package! The Length is the disrupter in today’s market. Make the March scope 3” longer like my VX5 and many IQ problems would diminish.
Patiently setting the diopter on 10x transformed the reticle clear edge to edge. Still a bit fuzzy at 15x, but from 1.5-13 the March took on a new personality. I then recalibrated my expectations: 1-6 is easy, 1-10 is tricky, 1.5-15 is nuts! Couple that with a SHORT footprint, and you’re going to have to finesse the parallax knob more due to the 10x magnification range. I’m used to max 6X on any scope I’ve ever utilized.
Look, I’m not the kind of guy that would get mad at a sports car I bought for using too much gas, or not being able to take that sports car off-roading - it’s about properly calibrating expectations. When I looked at the overall performance for my intended use, I’m impressed every time I get behind it. There’s nothing comparative that offers ALL these options in a complete package that I’m aware of. Which is why Glassaholic chose the comparative scopes he did. ATACR is great- make it 1.5-15, 6oz lighter, and 2” shorter. I’m not sure if this properly addresses your question, but I’m happy to add any detail that would be helpful.
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