Rifle Scopes Vortex strike eagle 5-25 ffp
- Thread starter BoulderE89
- Start date
I don’t put zero stops on any of my rimfire rifles. I just have a 30-40 moa bases on them. As long as I don’t have a full revolution of the turret below my zero I don’t really see the point. Most have around 5-6 mils below my 50 yard zero. That extra elevation I’m getting by leaving off the zero stop is a lot more useful than the zero stop would be for me.
I bought an Arken when they were first released. I had the 4-16 however so it wouldn’t really have been apples to apples. For me though the scope had 2 fatal flaws and I sold it to wait for the next batch to come out. Overall I was pretty impressed with the optic. The two fatal flaws for me were the reticle wasn’t functional for me because I couldn‘t do hold unders. The other was the magnification ring was so stiff that changing your magnification while behind the gun was impossible without grabbing the optic with both hands and really wrenching on it. It was stiff enough that my kids couldn’t move it at all. Until Arken releases a scope with an updated reticle and does something with the magnification ring the Vortex is a clear winner in this contest. Hopefully they can get their supply chain issues worked out and some people will actually be able to buy an Arken to compare them soon.
Has anyone compared this next to the Arken
Thanks for the feedback. Do you think the glass is similar from what you remember?
Thanks for the feedback. Do you think the glass is similar from what you remember?
From what I remember the Arken glass is better. The Arken glass really is outstanding for the price. Personally I wouldn’t be as concerned about the glass. I worry about tracking, eyebox and FOV more. Any scopes in this price range will have glass that is good enough.
Received mine last Friday. Got it mounted and finally got to sight it in today. Tracking seems good and returns to zero several times. Don’t have much to compare the glass to but I’m going to say I don’t think I’ll miss because of it. 20moa rail and I ended up with 20 mil of elevation left, installed the zero stop and ended up with 18.9 mils up and .5 below zero. After zero I had 12.7 mil below zero. So far I’m pretty impressed hopefully I can run it out to distance this weekend.
Well today ups dropped off a strike Eagle for my wife we mounted it and ran up the hill to zero and play with it a bit. She is shooting a Ruger American hunter in 6.5 The cheek pice is too high to bore sight by looking down the bore so I just had her shoot into the berm at 100 yards I told her where the impact was she used the reticle to measure and made the adjustments took a 2nd shot and was about 1 inch off so did a final adjustment and then proceeded to shoot the base of a shotgun shell..
She is just getting into long range shooting and this is the first time I’ve had her zero her own gun I was impressed!
As far as the optic goes it seems to track and return to zero. Glass is pretty dang good for the price.. If and it’s still a big IF these hold up they will be a really good budget optic!! It’s no razor gen 2 but I don’t see many situations where you would be at a huge disadvantage using this vs my razor (as long as this actually holds up and tracks 100%)
I like how easy and quick it is to zero and reset your knobs I like how easy it is to set the zero stop. We ended up with 42.5 moa of elevation after getting our 100 yard zero so that will take her out to 1240 yards so I’m happy with that..
There is another 28 moa available in the reticle on 25x so that’s enough to get to 1640 yards.
That’s farther then she will be shooting a 6.5 creed
Im definitely tempted to order one of these for my 22lr...
She is just getting into long range shooting and this is the first time I’ve had her zero her own gun I was impressed!
As far as the optic goes it seems to track and return to zero. Glass is pretty dang good for the price.. If and it’s still a big IF these hold up they will be a really good budget optic!! It’s no razor gen 2 but I don’t see many situations where you would be at a huge disadvantage using this vs my razor (as long as this actually holds up and tracks 100%)
I like how easy and quick it is to zero and reset your knobs I like how easy it is to set the zero stop. We ended up with 42.5 moa of elevation after getting our 100 yard zero so that will take her out to 1240 yards so I’m happy with that..
There is another 28 moa available in the reticle on 25x so that’s enough to get to 1640 yards.
That’s farther then she will be shooting a 6.5 creed
Im definitely tempted to order one of these for my 22lr...
So I ordered a Bergara 6.5 creedmoor HMR and got my Strike eagle scope in yesterday. Trying to find a good scope mounting set of rings that will work with this setup. Its a bit hard just going online and not having anything besides the scope on hand to try and figure out which mount to get as their are only a few hundred options
spuhr/ARC/vortex PMR/seekins
in the 1.18" range to clear big barrels safely with aadmount caps is where I like to sit
Zero'd at 100 i still had 19 mils of elevation with the zero stop installed. Thats with a 20 MOA base.
I initially ordered the Arken early february...and still hadn't arrived. I cancelled the Arken, ordered the SE and had it in hand 4 days later. After a couple range sessions i'm very happy with the optic.
Same here, just got an Optika6 3-18x56, and am considering another for hunting.
This looks to be great on paper. Granted I am green to the world of precision shooting. Is this enough optic for a 6.5 creedmoor? Looks like it could compete with the Viper PST Gen II in many ways? Seems to check a lot of boxes. Looking for decent scope/rings and bipod for under $1k. I cant believe spending $700.00 on a scope could get you something that isn't at least decent.
A 5-25 if the glass and tracking are decent is more than enough for a 6.5 CM. Having owned Vipers in the past, I'm just leery of Vortex lower tier scopes. Mine were 1st gen, but I ended up getting rid of a 2.5-10 and a 6.5-20. The glass and features just weren't great. I hope they've made huge improvements with this SE and the PST Gen 2s. I don't know from experience. All the Razors I've looked at were fantastic, but the Vipers I had didn't make me want to invest in them.
It does sound from early adopters however that the SE is a great buy for the money, as long as reliability holds.
So far very happy with my Strike Eagle I was comparing it to my razor gen2 last night looking at a bunch of different things from 100 to 2500 yards and I’m impressed. Is it a razor no definitely no. Is it a good scope? That remains to be seen but if the internals hold up then it’s going to be a very capable optic.
hopefully this weekend I’ll get it out to my range and run it through it’s paces I got steel from 200 to 900 yards and everything between so should get a decent idea of how it tracks and returns to zero.. I think what I’m most impressed with is the eye box... very few if any optics in this price range have this good of an eye box.. feels very similar to the razor in this regard.. optical quality definitely isn’t in the same realm of the razor but everything else is.... (that is if it tracks and holds zero)
How does this compare to a Athlon Midas Tac for glass quality and eye box?
Spend the extra $200 and get the pst gen 2. I have the strike Eagle 1-6 gen 2 and the pst gen 2 5-25x. The glass quality is no comparison. The pst glass is more clear at 25x than the strike Eagle at no mag.
So you don’t have a new Strike Eagle 5-25 but giving an opinion to spend another $350-400 on a PST on looking at a 1-6? You should look at the 5-25 before giving that opinion.
Reason I ask is I for a midas right now on my prs rig. Don’t really get into the gear game so I am kinda cheap. I have looked thru about every piece of glass you imagine. While there is a difference with extremely high end stuff my eyes really can’t tell difference on mid grade stuff like the Midas. It has served me well and gets job done. That being said I’m wanting to put something on my hunting rig and am just trying to decide between another Midas or the strike Eagle.
I compared my Strike Eagle to my Midas TAC side by side. The big difference is the eyebox and the FOV is much better on the Strike Eagle. The glass is about the same but the better FOV makes the SE seem better. If this is on a match rifle then the eyebox could be a big deal for you. I found the eyebox on the Tac and my Ares ETR to be a little tight. If you already have a Midas and don’t have any complaints with it then I don’t know that it is worth spending the extra money to replace what you have.
Thanks for the info. I believe that 34mm tube makes a difference on the fov. I’ll probably give one a shot.
Does vortex have a limit on Leo/mil purchases as an individual?
If purchasing from Expert Voice there are limits and conditions.
- 6 optics per year (Optics include : Riflescopes, Prism Scopes, Red Dots, Binoculars, Monoculars, Rangefinders, Spotting Scopes)
You can get similar pricing at Sports Optics as well with fast shipping. Don't know if they have a piece limit.
I didn't know this until I placed my order on Expert Voice. I tossed the item in the card and it showed free shipping and charged tax (I didn't call about discount and I do not know if they ship free with discount). Expert Voice also charges a stupid $2.00 transaction fee. So Sports Optics could be $12.00 cheaper all in with faster shipping.... That money could have went towards ammo or rings...
I also got the 40% off promo through them but its at full retail and I agree that our own vendors give us pricing that is around that anyway. I decided to pass but appreciated the offer.
is anyone finding out how how close up you can focus in on objects? I am able to level my scope on a plumb bob in my own yard 25-30 yrds with the mids tac, but my vortex PST gen 1 i had to go 50 yrds at least across the street to get it to focus in on the same plumb bob.
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They also have PMR on sale for 10 or 15 less a set than through EV
I was confused about how the zero stop could limit the travel, so when I received mine today, I did some thinking on it. Here's a quick video on why you're limited to ~95% of two turret rotations: (edit - better version)
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Thanks for the info.
What ring height is everyone running? I’ll have a 700 with a m24 profile.
IDK about his discount but I bought an Elcan from Mike years ago and he was great to deal with.
I'm going to try Warne PA lows (.25" top of rail to bottom of tube) on my B14R (30moa rail, #5.5 countour). It's gonna be tight, might have to go to mediums.
I thought the parallax dial was a little stiff, so I made a throw lever. First draft turned out perfect! Friction fit, no clamping mechanism, just teeth to engage the knob. First look seems like it'll stay put forever, but that may change in 100 degree sun this summer.
Here's what it looks like on my B14R (30moa EGW rail, #5.5 contour) with Vortex PMR 1.1" rings (top to center):
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Looks perfect with vortex caps
So I got my UTG high mount in last night and finally got out this morning to give the Strike Eagle a go. This is my review.
So my main concern with this scope was its tracking. I did a simple tracking test where I set up the target seen below. I aimed at the green sticky the entire test. I went from the sticky for 1 shot, then did 3 shot groups at targets 1 though 6 in sequential order. At the end I went back to the green sticky to make sure it returned to zero.
I understand this isn't very precise as the shooter and rifle only have so much accuracy. I forgot my level at home so I couldn't measure how level the targets were. This test was more for peace of mind.
The strike eagle tracked with enough accuracy for my use. It tracked just as well as the Sig Tango 4 IMO. Something else I did was take the scope through the entire elevation adjustment up and down and went back to zero. The scope did return to zero. I didn't find any tracking issues with my limited tests.
I did a direct comparison to the Strike Eagle 5-25x56 to the Sig Tango 4 6-24x50. Overall, I think the Strike Eagle is better in almost every measure.
Glass: I won't really go there. I feel like I'm terrible at telling the differences between glass due to my ignorance on the subject. I would leave the glass review to someone more qualified. The SE was just fine for my use and I have no complaints. The field of view isn't a fare comparison, the SE is much better than the Tango 4, but it's a 30mm vs 34mm tube.
Turrets: The turrets on the SE are awesome. They beat the Tango 4 and it's not even close. I actually like the SE turrets slightly better than those on my Sig Tango 6. They are more audible and tactile. The lock down feature of the SE is simple and it works. I don't mind the zero stop at all.
Reticle: This is more of a preference as the Dev-L reticle is my favorite reticle I've seen, so I give my Tango 4 a slight edge on this. But the EBR-7c is really nice. Both are base 4 in the MOA version which gives me less to think about when switching between the two. The EBR-7c is a nice reticle and gives a lot of hold over.
Accessories: I was really happy that the SE came with the accessories that it did. The throw lever and cap tool is a really nice addition. I'm very surprised it came with the scope considering how much it costs.
Overall Impression: So I'm not sure how to describe this, but the SE has way less blocked vision when using it. Even when comparing it between my Sig Tango 6, I found myself looking at a lot less scope (blacked vision) when looking through the SE. The field of view is just downright impressive. Overall, I would highly recommend this scope. For the price point, it checks all of the boxes I need. I am very happy with the purchase. I think Vortex is going to sell a hell of a lot of these scopes.
As far as elevation adjustment once zero'ed. On my RPR 556, I had 77 moa up and 42 moa down. I ended up installing the zero stop as I really don't need more than the 48 moa of elevation. Anything over 30 really isn't going to be used on my 556 rifle. Below is a picture of the SE mounted on my RPR. Excuse the puppy paws, she was really excited when I got home and wouldn't give me any space to take photo's.
So my main concern with this scope was its tracking. I did a simple tracking test where I set up the target seen below. I aimed at the green sticky the entire test. I went from the sticky for 1 shot, then did 3 shot groups at targets 1 though 6 in sequential order. At the end I went back to the green sticky to make sure it returned to zero.
I understand this isn't very precise as the shooter and rifle only have so much accuracy. I forgot my level at home so I couldn't measure how level the targets were. This test was more for peace of mind.
The strike eagle tracked with enough accuracy for my use. It tracked just as well as the Sig Tango 4 IMO. Something else I did was take the scope through the entire elevation adjustment up and down and went back to zero. The scope did return to zero. I didn't find any tracking issues with my limited tests.
I did a direct comparison to the Strike Eagle 5-25x56 to the Sig Tango 4 6-24x50. Overall, I think the Strike Eagle is better in almost every measure.
Glass: I won't really go there. I feel like I'm terrible at telling the differences between glass due to my ignorance on the subject. I would leave the glass review to someone more qualified. The SE was just fine for my use and I have no complaints. The field of view isn't a fare comparison, the SE is much better than the Tango 4, but it's a 30mm vs 34mm tube.
Turrets: The turrets on the SE are awesome. They beat the Tango 4 and it's not even close. I actually like the SE turrets slightly better than those on my Sig Tango 6. They are more audible and tactile. The lock down feature of the SE is simple and it works. I don't mind the zero stop at all.
Reticle: This is more of a preference as the Dev-L reticle is my favorite reticle I've seen, so I give my Tango 4 a slight edge on this. But the EBR-7c is really nice. Both are base 4 in the MOA version which gives me less to think about when switching between the two. The EBR-7c is a nice reticle and gives a lot of hold over.
Accessories: I was really happy that the SE came with the accessories that it did. The throw lever and cap tool is a really nice addition. I'm very surprised it came with the scope considering how much it costs.
Overall Impression: So I'm not sure how to describe this, but the SE has way less blocked vision when using it. Even when comparing it between my Sig Tango 6, I found myself looking at a lot less scope (blacked vision) when looking through the SE. The field of view is just downright impressive. Overall, I would highly recommend this scope. For the price point, it checks all of the boxes I need. I am very happy with the purchase. I think Vortex is going to sell a hell of a lot of these scopes.
As far as elevation adjustment once zero'ed. On my RPR 556, I had 77 moa up and 42 moa down. I ended up installing the zero stop as I really don't need more than the 48 moa of elevation. Anything over 30 really isn't going to be used on my 556 rifle. Below is a picture of the SE mounted on my RPR. Excuse the puppy paws, she was really excited when I got home and wouldn't give me any space to take photo's.
Very nice! I propose this scope be dubbed the Chinese Razor.
The more I look at it, the more I'd probably think it was one at a glance - if they matched the colors.
I just got one of these and put it on a 10-22 that shoots pretty good for a 10-22. I have a 20 MOA base and I used Burris rings and put 25 MOA in the rings. I zeroed at 50 yards and I have about 90 MOA of up elevation available. I have about 17 MOA below zero or less than a complete revolution. I tried the zero stop and lost a lot of up elevation, so I took it back out. I need a lot of elevation for long range 22.
I shot about 150 rounds of SK Biathlon from 50 yards out to 140 yards with targets in between. It always came back to zero. I ran the dial all the way up and down several times. Glass is clear to me. I like the reticle. When I get the chance I'll compare it to a Viper PST II 5-25 and a NF 7-35. Eye box was good. I had to improvise a cheek rest. I wouldn't hesitate to put this scope on a much better rifle.
I have a 20 MOA base and I used Burris rings and put 25 MOA in the rings. I zeroed at 50 yards and I have about 90 MOA of up elevation available. I have about 17 MOA below zero or less than a complete revolution. I tried the zero stop and lost a lot of up elevation, so I took it back out. I need a lot of elevation for long range 22. I shot about 150 rounds of SK Biathlon from 50 yards out to 140 yards with targets in between. It always came back to zero. I ran the dial all the way up and down several times. Glass is clear to me. I like the reticle. When I get the chance I'll compare it to a Viper PST II 5-25 and a NF 7-35. Eye box was good. I had to improvise a cheek rest. I wouldn't hesitate to put this scope on a much better rifle.
Very nice! I propose this scope be dubbed the Chinese Razor.
The more I look at it, the more I'd probably think it was one at a glance - if they matched the colors.
Actually that fits perfectly!
I have a tall target tracking file that I made with autocad that I can email someone if they want to try it. It’s pretty exact if u get the right size on a plotter. Just shoot me an email and I send it.
Finally got mine mounted up this morning. Put it on my Vudoo 22, and after zeroing at 25 yards I have 18.9 mils of elevation left after installing zero stop. 18.9 Mils is a ton - I don't understand the whining. I'm 16.9 Mils to 300 yards at 1800 DA and don't know why I'd go further. For the money Vortex has packed a ton of features into this scope.
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It is a ton. In my case, I need to be able to shoot out to 500 yards, which will involve ~32 mils of combined dialing & holdover... Hopefully this use case is rare though.
Guys shooting ELR want as much as they can get. I currently have 27 mils but I’m going to probably get a set of Burris rings and try to take advantage of the additional 6 mils I have below my zero. I shoot 22 ELR matches once or twice a year and we usually get out to between 500 and 600 so all the elevation I can get I’m happy to have.
