The ease of setting the zero stop primarily. Different lots and brands of rimfire ammo often shoot to different points of aim and resetting the zero is just simple. They have a great tactile feel, I like when you reset zero it automatically gives you a half mil below zero. My only comparison is my ATACAR and NX8, I also have a Vortex SE and a Burris XTRIII and I’ve shot with a friends G3 and really liked it. The Theos has been reviewed here and elsewhere pretty favorably, I decided to try it and liked it so much I bought a second one. I haven’t had to send the Element in for repairs yet so that may or may not be a negative. A lot of brands and models here have their fanboys, I just currently happen to really like my Theos. Also, probably because I’m not used to them I’m not a fan of locking turrets.
I finally picked up a Theos too, and I really, really do like it. I have owned a ton of scopes as well with the two closest to this style in this category being the ATACR 7-35 and Razor G3. I wish I had them at the same time for comparison. My next scope was down to the Zeiss or the Theos, and the DVOR deal on the Theos was too good to pass up, so I went with it.
The zero stop truly is the easiest I have ever used. On most scopes where you just pick up the turret and put it back down just to change your zero (but not the actual zero-stop)… it is that easy to change the zero stop on the Theos. No pulling out the wrenches, adjusting, wrenches, check, wrenches, adjust, wrenches, check.
The scope itself for anyone who has used this level of scope is everything I expected. I shoot a lot in a lane through the woods, so low light is important and all these 3 scopes have performed exceptionally well for me in that environment. I wish I could do a comparison between them, but it wouldn’t be fair having been so long between owning each. Just a few comments on each.
The ATACR (years ago) was probably my favorite scope at the time. I love the diopter and I know not all do. I was able to adjust it to my eyes better than any scope I had used to that point. The low light shooting I mentioned was excellent and it was just so comfortable to be behind for hours at a time. I only sold it because I didn’t want to keep that much invested in one scope based on the shooting I was doing.
I owned the G3 several years ago when there was the vendor with the exceptional deals. I remember thinking it was a very good scope, but with many changes going on at the time between rifle choices and such, I didn’t keep it very long. Nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t blow me away at the time based on the needs I had with the rifles I was shooting. I chose again to go with a lower end optic while I was trying out several rifles. I’m not saying anything bad about it, but only that I didn’t feel like I need that much optic for the money in that season.
I have now again, decided to go back to a nicer optic with fewer rifles being shot right now, and plan to swap it between 2 rimfires. I chose it to again try something I hadn’t tried. Already mentioned the excellent zero stop (and will watch for what Rob mentions as I see where he is going with that). I am very impressed (more than I was with the Vortex) but I think it is because of the list of scopes I have used in the last few years. So not that it is any better than the G3 at all, but more so probably the change between the low level scopes I have been using lately to going back to something nicer again reminded me how much better a scope can be.
