Rifle Scopes Leupold Mark 8 3.5-25x56 - WHY?

It's the name brother!!!!

Life time warranty

Because you WILL need it.

Glenn

My best guess is because, traditionally, you pay more for the lower minimum magnification than you do for the higher top end of magnification assuming comparable top end mags are the same or close to equal.

There are a couple optics out there (Hendsolt 3.5-26 and S&B 3-27) that run $6500+. I'd give those the 'Grandeur' tag before the MK8. Leupy was also one of the first to bring an illuminated Horus reticle to market that consisted of more than the center dot being illuminated.

When you think about the optics you mention in comparison to the MK8 (assuming you're comparing the MK8 with illum H58) none of them have a 3.5x low end, all but the S&B are heavier, and some aren't even out yet. Leupold started shipping these in Nov of '12. I certainly agree they need to find a way to bring down the price with current competitive offerings out there, but then we'd be assuming they're forecasting significant sales to the civilian market with this optic. Not sure that's the case.

Hell, I wouldn't buy any of the optics mentioned over the March 3-24 with a 'fuck my life 1 time' reticle (aka FML-1). At least they're an American company bringing an optic to market that isn't 3+ lbs. Maybe that's just me though.

There are numerous scopes I'd buy before I paid $4600 for a MK8. I just picked up a BEAST for less than that. If the lower resolution is necessary, I'd wait for the new Vortex or get the March like Jasonfaz said.

Pretty sure the mk8 is lighter than the s&b 5-25 and 3-27.

Vortex is 4.5 low end.

Liberty Optics has them for $3500 for the mildot version and $3800 for H58. About 3/4 the way down the page: Specials, Demos, Trades

Anyone who pays MSRP for a Leupold is either in a rush at initial release or a fool who doesn't know how to contact the right vendor.

Vortex Gen II is not only 4.5 min magnification but it has also earned the "heaviest scope on the market" award at over 3 lbs.

Bulldog, my S&B 5-25 w/Illum P4F comes in at 32.1 oz. The MK8 is a hair over 37 and the 3-27 $6500 high power is a shade under 40 oz. Regardless, I'm not sure the MK8 is overpriced compared to the S&B 3-27 or the Hendsolt 3.5-26x which is probably the most 'apples-to-apples' comparison to be honest. Viewed in that light, it's a great price!

Where do you get that number from? I ask because everywhere I look it says the s&b 5-25 weighs 38oz. Prescsionrifleblog has the weights at 35.6 for the mk8 and 39.7 for the s&b.

Leupold's site has the MK8 listed at 37oz. I don't own one so can't put it in a scale. My S&B weighs 32.1 oz without the CR2032, but it's been ages since I weighed of the scale. I'd have to actually put in on the scale to see if that's correct. I bought it from SWFA which lists the weight at 32oz. The high power weight seems to be accurate - I stated a shade under 40oz. in my post - so that seems about right. I'll have to throw my S&B on the scale this week and see if I get 32 or 38oz and what difference the battery makes.

Either way, the point is that the MK8 is still priced where it should be in my opinion. Unless you're comparing it to the Rifleman or something similar to the Bass Pro models, it shouldn't be far off the competition in quality and well under the price of those units. I'm pretty proud of the old American company that's brought some game to the table. Hell, most the Euro guys (Ziess comes to mind) decided in just the last six months to put a CS center in the US. Good stuff.

Xtremegunnr said:

Does anyone know why the Mark 8 went up in price by so much?
Was Leupold thinking that no one was taking them serious, so with a huge price increase it may show signs of grandeur?
I could have acquired one new for 2600 roughly a year ago....but now.....$4600.00?
With the new Vortex HD 2 coming out, the newly revamped Steiners, Tangent Theta, and old faithful - S&B, why would anyone buy one?

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I strongly suspect that the prices offered on high-end scopes that have a significant government/military market potential are greatly increased so that the manufacturer can offer a "discount" on government contracts while still making a big profit. Such contracts may have a "most favored nation" pricing clause (the government agency is guaranteed the best price currently available for the duration of the contract) and, even if not, may have to show a significant discount off of "retail" to get the contract. Just my suspicion.

I don't think the vendors on these type of +$4,000 scopes give one crap about the "average" individual shooter and whether or not the particular scope appeals to them in any way. These items are designed and marketed for large gov't contracts with boatloads of profit built in.

I picked one up last year before the insane price hike. I was really jazzed that they had produced a scope with these features at a really solid price point. I was looking for Leupold to start making some inroads back into this market. Then they shot themselves in the dick with the price bump.

The Mark 6 is solid at that price, the CQBSS is well received if not a bit pricey, but as much as I've supported them in the past I couldn't see paying their current pricing for the Mk8.

Vortex is really poised to be the giant killer with the new Razor II. I have one on pre-order, and if it's the shiz-nit that everyone is saying it is, then I don't see paying more for a scope again.

Like jasonfaz said,there is no other option out there with the feature set of the MK8 at the price point. Probably one of the reasons it can command the price. It's lightweight compared to the S&B and a featherweight compared to the Hendsoldt and it is at least 2000 cheaper than both. The MK8 was never meant to compete with Vortex as they are two different animals.

Sorry if it seemed I was bashing the Mk8, that wasn't my intent. To me the Mk8 was designed as a competitor/alternative to the S&B, at a better price at the time. In my opinion they hurt themselves with the price increase. For that money, or less, you can get the S&B and pretty much anything else out there other than the newest S&B and Hendsolt. In this community, that's a tough sell. Of the high-end optics, the S&B is the one I don't own ( I have 4 Leupolds, + the BEAST, and the Vortex pre-order along with some other lower end optics) but in today's market, as much as I like Leupold, I wouldn't spend more for one than a S&B. When they had comparable features for a better price it was a no-brainer.

The Leupold was never meant as a competitor to the Vortex, but Vortex has apparently upped their game to an extent that they are now a competitor with the big boys. For Rob01 to have sold his S&B to buy another Vortex says a LOT to me.

Vortex has been a competitor to the big boys for a lot longer than just now. Plenty of people have been using the 1st gen razors and being very successful with them at high level competitions. I don't have a background in precision shooting but from my experience with USPSA, you could give a top level competitor a out of the box 700 308 with a Vortex Viper PST and FGMM and in most cases they would be so dominating in all but the highest level matches that most people would be fighting for second place. These are nit picky differences and I believe people over emphasize the importance of super premium equipment.

I agree 100%. Hell IIRC Team GAP is shooting Bushnells. I own one and love it as a great scope in that price range and I don't think the BEAST is going to help me make a shot I couldn't make with the Bushnell. The Razor has been great, the new Razor is apparently stunningly better and is really poised to challenge the market dynamic. Whatever it is we tell ourselves makes a scope "worth" $4k (or more), it sounds as though the new Razor is going to set that thinking on its ear.

For a long time, if you wanted/needed "x" features you had to pay dearly for a scope. More and more, companies are releasing insanely feature-rich scopes at appealing price points, and are causing many of us to question what exactly we're getting for the extra couple of thousand dollars.

bogeybrown said:

The Leupold was never meant as a competitor to the Vortex, but Vortex has apparently upped their game to an extent that they are now a competitor with the big boys. For Rob01 to have sold his S&B to buy another Vortex says a LOT to me.

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Rob01 is sponsored by Vortex.

Not a bash on Rob01.

Hmmmmm, didn't know that. Interesting information there.

unreconstructed said:

Rob01 is sponsored by Vortex.

Not a bash on Rob01.

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Agreed, but he's never struck me as a fan boy, and whatever his sponsorship agreement is he apparently still has to purchase his own scopes.

To the OP, sorry for the derail. As i said, I liked what I got to see of the Mk8 when I was home last year and mounted it up. Why any of us spend the money we do on the toys we own, and where we chose to spend that money is something only we can work out for ourselves.

Why not?

unreconstructed said:

Rob01 is sponsored by Vortex.

Not a bash on Rob01.

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This is a stupid post and means nothing. Scott at Vortex himself owns a few S&B's, so what's your point? Rob sold that because he literally felt it was a better use of the money.

why the price increase, nobody but Leupold knows the real answer for sure, but i can assure you they were making money on the mk8 3-25 at 2013 mil prices, the insane increases on the mk 8 and DAGR/illuminated mk6 3-18 were both scopes aimed at scoring a contract with the csass/psr selection where price really is not a factor as it would be lumped in as a system cost. it’s no secret that we pay what 20k per m110 system, this is nothing more than throwing a high number on the wall and hoping it gets adopted.

or

inflation