There’s a thread on this topic if you search. I was reading it yesterday I believe.
Rifle Scopes Arken SH4 Gen2 6-24x50 VPR MIL
- Thread starter FuhQ
- Start date
100 yards? You mean 1000? Pretty much anything will work for 100 yards... But, I've never looked through the Athlon to compare. I can say, that the Arken SH4 will be more than good enough to get you to 1000 yards. For the money, it will impress you.
Thanks! It's far from anything professional, but I try to do the best I can, with what I got available to me.Nice review.
I didn't know anything about them before.
My Arken SH4 Gen2 6-24x50 showed up today, first impressions, seems pretty solid, heavy. Need to get some rings and mount it up and get to the range. I compared the glass to my Steiner T5xi5-25x56. based on initial look through the Steiner is mucho better - have to see how the compare out doors..
not really a fair comparison. Steiner glass is awesome. Until i got the Arken set up for my eyes i was not initially impressed, but after i did, i was super impressed. Enough i ordered 2 more.
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Yeah, like was mentioned, that's not going to be a fair comparison. LOL I mean, you're comparing a $450 scope to a $2,300 scope. That's like comparing a stock Mustang GT to a Lamborghini... They're just not even in the same ball park.
But, for what it is, I would recommend comparing it to scopes in the $1,000 and under category and you will find it is a surprising optic, especially for the money.
I took my new 6-24 SH4 Gen 2 VPR to the range today. Got it sighted in and then afterwards chrono’d several different loads on a new Seekins DMR upper I picked up. 20” Criterion with Precision Underground “high heat” covered Omega.
Sunny, clear day and then transitioned to lower light. 65F. Spent some time just playing with it at various ranges out to 300.
First off, the 4-16 EP4 is clearer and handles mirage better at same power. At 18-24x mirage really distorted the view even at 100 yd. I was shooting 5 rd strings and letting cool for approx 5 minutes in between. Barrel was still warm starting new string.
In lower light about an hour from sunset the SH4 had the milky haze out to 300 looking into the woods at the end of the range with sun setting behind me. Kinda unimpressed. I don’t want to be too judgy as this was my first time taking it out. Looking forward to shooting it more. It’s great for the $350 I paid and arrived quickly. Turrets and parallax were on point. It didn’t come with a battery so I didn’t fool with illumination today. The parallax adjusts much easier than my EP4, which is stiff and doesn’t have ranges on it. Just the wedge outline graphic. Both have stiff mag rings, which is fine as I use a throw lever on everything. Since comparing to “$1000 scopes” came up, I paid $1050 for a like-new DMR3 recently and it’s levels above this in glass quality IMO. Turrets and moving parts though are very similar. I’m not an expert but do have a wide variety of glass from $4k to this. I had a couple Nikon Black FX1000 scopes and the glass was similar to the EP4. Reticles we’re P4F style so I sold them. If they would’ve had tree style, I definitely would have kept those.
Sunny, clear day and then transitioned to lower light. 65F. Spent some time just playing with it at various ranges out to 300.
First off, the 4-16 EP4 is clearer and handles mirage better at same power. At 18-24x mirage really distorted the view even at 100 yd. I was shooting 5 rd strings and letting cool for approx 5 minutes in between. Barrel was still warm starting new string.
In lower light about an hour from sunset the SH4 had the milky haze out to 300 looking into the woods at the end of the range with sun setting behind me. Kinda unimpressed. I don’t want to be too judgy as this was my first time taking it out. Looking forward to shooting it more. It’s great for the $350 I paid and arrived quickly. Turrets and parallax were on point. It didn’t come with a battery so I didn’t fool with illumination today. The parallax adjusts much easier than my EP4, which is stiff and doesn’t have ranges on it. Just the wedge outline graphic. Both have stiff mag rings, which is fine as I use a throw lever on everything. Since comparing to “$1000 scopes” came up, I paid $1050 for a like-new DMR3 recently and it’s levels above this in glass quality IMO. Turrets and moving parts though are very similar. I’m not an expert but do have a wide variety of glass from $4k to this. I had a couple Nikon Black FX1000 scopes and the glass was similar to the EP4. Reticles we’re P4F style so I sold them. If they would’ve had tree style, I definitely would have kept those.
That's odd... Both of mine are pretty bright and very clear...Even at max magnification. I do notice some slight degradation at max magnification, but it's still pretty damn clear. Clearer than my Viper HS-T's. And I'd say it's close to equal to my new Strike Eagle 5-25x56. I will say this, scope and manufacturing technology has improved drastically over the last 10+ years. And the 34mm tube gives an amazing field of view, compared to the scopes of yesterday. The FOV of my HS-T 6-24x50 is very boxed-in and tight, and they have 30mm tubes. I used to tout the HS-T as the best bang for your buck...And for nearly 10 years it was. But the more I mess with the Strike Eagle and the Arkens... The more that opinion has quickly faded. They're still excellent scopes, just a bit dated technology now.
I don’t have any experience with Strike Eagle and I’m probably just spoiled honestly but in comparison the EP4 it lacks and DMR3 is levels above like stated. I was surprised at the DMR3 as it was the first comparison against my SB and ZCO at that price. I wouldn’t put this SHV on anything I shoot a lot but that’s an invalid comparison IMO and just depends on your budget I guess. I just wanted to try it for myself. I also don’t drink wine or bourbon I don’t like.
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Frankly, not trying to be snobby, but it’s like other things in life. I’ve tried main cabin, my knees hit the seat in front of me. I don’t get to pick my seat and get charged for bags. I have to wait to get a drink, now they don’t even serve liquor drinks there now. I’ve tried Delta comfort + or similar, still don’t serve liquor always and maybe the person next to me is hitting my elbow and acting weird. In first class, all these issues are eliminated. Honestly, most of the time I just want room to sleep. Yes it’s more expensive. It’s relative. Could I have accomplished arriving at the same destination in another class of the plane..definitely. Just a matter of preference I guess. It’s the details that matter IMO and relativity in the end. I relate this to a lot of purchases in my life.
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I get it. It did come off that way at first, but your edit explains a lot. And I don't mean that sarcastically at all.I don’t have any experience with Strike Eagle and I’m probably just spoiled honestly but in comparison the EP4 it lacks and DMR3 is levels above like stated. I was surprised at the DMR3 as it was the first comparison against my SB and ZCO at that price. I wouldn’t put this SHV on anything I shoot a lot but that’s an invalid comparison IMO and just depends on your budget I guess. I just wanted to try it for myself. I also don’t drink wine or bourbon I don’t like.
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Frankly, not trying to be snobby, but it’s like other things in life. I’ve tried main cabin, my knees hit the seat in front of me. I don’t get to pick my seat and get charged for bags. I have to wait to get a drink, now they don’t even serve liquor drinks there now. I’ve tried Delta comfort + or similar, still don’t serve liquor always and maybe the person next to me is hitting my elbow and acting weird. In first class, all these issues are eliminated. Honestly, most of the time I just want room to sleep. Yes it’s more expensive. It’s relative. Could I have accomplished arriving at the same destination in another class of the plane..definitely. Just a matter of preference I guess. It’s the details that matter IMO and relativity in the end. I relate this to a lot of purchases in my life.
I wouldn't know, but I guess when you get to a point in life where you've been lucky enough to be able to afford to fly 1st Class everywhere, and buy $5,000 scopes, you've far-surpassed the ability to be impressed with average things, like the average person (me) is. I'm broke, but I have some above-average things (to rich folks, they'd still be considered "poor-to-common" items) because I worked hard for them, and ate bologna and ramen for months to be able to do so. But I've known lots of well-off people in my life. The ones who worked their way to the top get it, but the ones who were born into it, nothing against them b/c it's just how they were raised, but they honestly can't even mentally comprehend anything that isn't silver-spoon.
For example, I know a contractor who was born into a billionaire family thanks to his grandpa, but when talking to him, he honestly just doesn't understand regular folk things... Like, to him, it's not a big deal to go get a check from the family CPA for $950,000 to go buy construction equipment at an auction. I'll probably never even make that much money in my entire life. People like that just live in a completely different world on the same planet as us.
I still haven't decided what rifle to put my 2nd Arken on... I really don't shoot many of my bolt-action centerfires at the range, since it's only a 200 yard range, other than my .260 Rem and .308 Win, and most of the rest of them are magnums and long-actions, and I completed load development on them years ago...And nothing has changed.
I just saw that Ruger offers the American line in a Tactical version now, with 18" threaded 6.5CM and a 16" threaded .308 Win... I already have a threaded .260 Rem, but I wouldn't mind getting that 18" 6.5CM for hunting with my Nomad-LT. It would mean the OAL of the barrel & suppressor would be 27"... Which is only 1" longer than my regular deer rifles, but this would be suppressed at that length. I might get one for a compact truck gun.
I just saw that Ruger offers the American line in a Tactical version now, with 18" threaded 6.5CM and a 16" threaded .308 Win... I already have a threaded .260 Rem, but I wouldn't mind getting that 18" 6.5CM for hunting with my Nomad-LT. It would mean the OAL of the barrel & suppressor would be 27"... Which is only 1" longer than my regular deer rifles, but this would be suppressed at that length. I might get one for a compact truck gun.
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I finally got my Arken SH4 6-24x50 mounted up and to the range to sight it in.. Over build quality seems good. The eye box on it sucks, not very forgiving and on my particular scope CA is bad @ 24x - green haze at the edges of of the paper targets, goes away when I back off on the power. Anyone else have CA @ 24x? It's very noticeable on my scope... Scope is mounted on M1A Scout Squad - Seekins rings. I am going to reach out to Arken and see what they say about the CA..
My 4-16 is usable at 16 but really starts to clean up when backed off, it’s pretty nice at 10 power.
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I sent them an email, waiting for a response,, the scope is usable, it's just strange I would see green on the edge of my paper targets.
What percentage of the edge would you say is affected by the green haze? 5%, 10%? How far into the center does is protrude?
I'm only curious because neither of mine are like that, but right at the very edge of the glass it does have a tiny bit of distortion, like where the lenses have a rolled edge where they were ground to rollover from a vertical surface into a flat 90º surface to be glued in place, maybe the last 2.5% around the edge. Not enough to affect anything at all.
Hell, even my $1,000+ MSRP scopes have that very tiny slight bit of distortion at the very edges where you don't use the glass. My Strike Eagle 5-25x56 even has the same tiny bit of edge distortion. If 97.5% of the glass viewing surface and FOV is flawless for me, especially on a sub-$500 scope... I'm good to go.
I grew up with some low-end optics, because we didn't have a lot of money. So, today's scopes are leaps & bounds ahead of the shit I grew up with. This Arken and Strike Eagle might as well be a damn NF compared to the Tasco World Class and Simmons Aetecs I grew up using. Last edited:
Posted about these before. First one I had was crap, and the return process was more involved then it should have been. I'll get to that. Tried again last week, this time I got a good one. Have a third one the way, see if that one is good as well.
First one would not be parallax free no matter what I did. Spoke to one of the owners of Arken: long conversation and in the end they halfway reluctantly had me return it. Didn't buy another one at that time since the input from Arken did not give me a lot of confidence.
But since they have coupons available (so you can get one at the old price) I decided to try again. For $350 it's great, IF you get a good one.
Reading the above threads from people that just got theirs I deduct it's still a hit and miss show...
It would do Arken a lot of good if they take the 5 minutes per scope it takes to evaluate and weed out the bad ones, instead of just moving boxes and see what comes back...
First one would not be parallax free no matter what I did. Spoke to one of the owners of Arken: long conversation and in the end they halfway reluctantly had me return it. Didn't buy another one at that time since the input from Arken did not give me a lot of confidence.
But since they have coupons available (so you can get one at the old price) I decided to try again. For $350 it's great, IF you get a good one.
Reading the above threads from people that just got theirs I deduct it's still a hit and miss show...
It would do Arken a lot of good if they take the 5 minutes per scope it takes to evaluate and weed out the bad ones, instead of just moving boxes and see what comes back...
The first thing I think people need to realize is at 350$ there’s going to be limitations. If they are dumping a bunch of money in the mechanics, then the glass is probably going to show its price.
Overall, I think it’s features are good enough for some range toys to shoot out to 1k with, if it fails hopefully they replace it. I wouldn’t put it on a duty weapon, but having several rifles, I also don’t want to put 1k scopes on all of them.
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I agree. Most companies need to improve their QA/QC. But I agree. It wouldn't take but a minute or 2 per optic to give it a look and see if it's defective or has an issue. None of mine had any issues, both of them are nice and clear.
I can't remember who, but someone on here found out they had an old email address that is no longer used, so to make sure you send your inquiry to their new working email. I don't know what that is, but I'm sure someone else on here knows it and can post it. Everyone I've heard of has been happy with their customer service experience once they finally got the right email address to contact them.
[email protected]
I am STILL awaiting mine, sigh...
I sent an email showing the lame USPS site is never updating from label created.
Not Arken's fault.
Arken sent an email back, shipped another one, and a return label to return one of them. I was not expecting that.
Guess what, that shipment tracking is NOT updating either.
Not Arken's fault.
I will wait it out.
USPS needs to be disbanded AND everyone's tax rate needs to be reduced.
They should pay every tax payer a huge bonus.
I am STILL awaiting mine, sigh...
I sent an email showing the lame USPS site is never updating from label created.
Not Arken's fault.
Arken sent an email back, shipped another one, and a return label to return one of them. I was not expecting that.
Guess what, that shipment tracking is NOT updating either.
Not Arken's fault.
I will wait it out.
USPS needs to be disbanded AND everyone's tax rate needs to be reduced.
They should pay every tax payer a huge bonus.
Same with mine. Kept saying delivering today by 9pm…every day. After 3 days of that I filed a missing package online and it showed up a day later. Fuck USPS. They’re pitiful. Will only get worse as the holidays proceed.
USPS has always been worthless. And so has FedEx. Both are about as useless as tits on a boar hog.
Covid gave every government agency an excuse to be even MORE worthless and leaching than they already were. And I don't see it getting back to better until they stop with all this made-up bullshit about covid and stop trying to use it as the boogeyman...
#FJB #LetsGoBrandon #FKH
Covid gave every government agency an excuse to be even MORE worthless and leaching than they already were. And I don't see it getting back to better until they stop with all this made-up bullshit about covid and stop trying to use it as the boogeyman...
#FJB #LetsGoBrandon #FKH
I got my second Arken a few weeks ago. I just couldn't pass on the $100 off for F&F.
Bang for the buck it's a fantastic deal.
My #1 complaint the numbering on the turrets are confusing as fuck! I spent more time trying to figure which way to move ...
Simple arrows ...up ...down ...left ...right...would be the best addition.
My wife has a vinyl cutter, i'll just get her to make me a couple of stickers.
Bang for the buck it's a fantastic deal.
My #1 complaint the numbering on the turrets are confusing as fuck! I spent more time trying to figure which way to move ...
Simple arrows ...up ...down ...left ...right...would be the best addition.
My wife has a vinyl cutter, i'll just get her to make me a couple of stickers.
Mine has giant arrows and UP by the zero "0", my Vortex Venom does have the UP and ---> on the body though.
That’s what I was thinking… Mine has giant arrows on the elevation, and it’s pretty easy to remember the numerical order of 1-8… And, if you set your zero-stop, it only spins in 1 direction.
And the windage has L and R listed on each direction…
I covered most of the top edge and side edge of the paper target - it was one you use for sighting in a scope, @24x 100yrds it covered a god portion of the top of the target at the top of the scope - so I would say at least 5 - 10 % but backing of cured the issue and it's not a haze it's solid bar of green - which I found strange. I was just using 24X to see my impacts on target - forgot the spotting scope. I should have ask on of the other shooters at the range to take a look as well, I looked with my glass on and off and saw the same thing. Lets see what Arken has to say. I will report back with my CS experience.What percentage of the edge would you say is affected by the green haze? 5%, 10%? How far into the center does is protrude?
I'm only curious because neither of mine are like that, but right at the very edge of the glass it does have a tiny bit of distortion, like where the lenses have a rolled edge where they were ground to rollover from a vertical surface into a flat 90º surface to be glued in place, maybe the last 2.5% around the edge. Not enough to affect anything at all.
Hell, even my $1,000+ MSRP scopes have that very tiny slight bit of distortion at the very edges where you don't use the glass. My Strike Eagle 5-25x56 even has the same tiny bit of edge distortion. If 97.5% of the glass viewing surface and FOV is flawless for me, especially on a sub-$500 scope... I'm good to go.
When the number gets bigger you are going up. When the number gets smaller you are going down.
You got a pic? I’m confused, maybe you got a incomplete turret??
Received today.
Hopefully, I wont have to open the second box, and simply return it intact.
How would you compare the Arken to Nikon? I'm thinking about buying an Arken to replace the Nikon M308 currently on my RPR 308. The clarity is good on the Nikon, but noticed I couldn't see the reticle for SHIT in last seconds of light while deer hunting last season. The illuminated reticle would be nice
just took mine out and took a look to see how it is with the sun down. Other than light in the western sky, it's pretty much past dusk. Still amazed every time i look thru this scope. No distortion, no weird colors and i was looking 300yds+ and would have had no problem seeing a buck in the shadows. Hell of a lot better scope than the PST gen2 i paid $975 for. I bought a piece of aluminum plate last week i'm going to set up to be able to put up to 5 scopes at one time on. Down the road when i finally get a little time, going to do some comparison's just for shit's and grins. And i won't leave my Kahles blurry like another comparison i saw on here last week. Still haven't figured that one out
Or keep both... See if they'll let you keep both, just pay the $100 off price for the 2nd one. You won't regret keeping them. Plus, you don't have to wait on shipping for the 2nd one. Hell, that kind of shipping speed even beats Amazon.
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I can't wait to see this! I wish I had the time and money to build a setup like this, to take pics through and share and compare. I was hoping my iPhone camera would accomplish this, but I guess it's not wanting to cooperate much (as you saw from my previous pictures that looked like shit
). I received a reply from Arken:
Allen,
I will admit that our scopes do have some CA at full magnification when looking at bright white targets, like paper or something, is when I notice it the most. It is likely that that is normal, but if you were able to send in a picture of what it looks like I would be more able to confirm or see if it is abnormal amounts of CA. I realize that may be easier said than done, but I figure it is worth the ask. Thank you for your support and business. I hope you have a great rest of your evening.
How can I get the picture they are requesting ? I know hand holding an iPhone is not going to do it..
ETA: Or should I just say fuck it and move on.
Allen,
I will admit that our scopes do have some CA at full magnification when looking at bright white targets, like paper or something, is when I notice it the most. It is likely that that is normal, but if you were able to send in a picture of what it looks like I would be more able to confirm or see if it is abnormal amounts of CA. I realize that may be easier said than done, but I figure it is worth the ask. Thank you for your support and business. I hope you have a great rest of your evening.
How can I get the picture they are requesting ? I know hand holding an iPhone is not going to do it..
ETA: Or should I just say fuck it and move on.
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You can put the iphone in a clamp on a tripod, that wouldn't work ?
I will give that a try
played around with it today at the range and have to say, pretty impressed with this scope for 350. not bad at all.
tracked nicely, parallax was
tracked nicely, parallax was
Honestly, for $350 (with the promo code), it's probably the best .22 & rimfire scope on the market.
My Vortex HS-T works great on my Christensen Arms Ranger 22, because I don't need to shoot more than 200-300 yards with it. And it does amazing at 200 yards. With my particular rifle & ammo, 5 MILs gets me from my 100 yard zero, to nearly dead-on at 200.
the best was the bsa scope with calibrated turrets and reticle but they don't make that any longer. This scope is too much for a 22lr where I'll never shoot it over 75yds but I do really like this scope, great buy.Honestly, for $350 (with the promo code), it's probably the best .22 & rimfire scope on the market.
My Vortex HS-T works great on my Christensen Arms Ranger 22, because I don't need to shoot more than 200-300 yards with it. And it does amazing at 200 yards. With my particular rifle & ammo, 5 MILs gets me from my 100 yard zero, to nearly dead-on at 200.
Louder for those in the back.When the number gets bigger you are going up. When the number gets smaller you are going down.
I don't post alot on the boards...I mainly read and gather info. But I had to say something about this scope. I am still trying to find budget alternatives to spend $1000 plus scopes on my rifles (I have three heavy barrel remington 700's in greyboe stock with trigger tech triggers). Up to this point my "best" scope was a Vortex Viper HST. The image quality and sharpness are head and shoulders better in my new Arken. I mounted it on my 243 in Arken rings and torqued everything with my FAT wrench. I bore sighted it on a bipod looking down the barrel with the bolt removed and then fired a few shots to dial it in at 60 yards. Then I moved out to 12 inch steel plates at 100, 200 and 300 yards (furthest my local gun club has on it's ranges, Hitting steel and dialing in my shots was effortless. The scope made precise adjustments and it was just a pleasure to use. I think it's is easily a better scope for image quality and very similar in the turret feel to the Viper HST (which cost several hundred dollars more).
What code work again? Think I might have to pick one up
I have quite a few HST scopes as well. I find my 2 Arkens to be better optics, honestly. Optics technology has been developing rapidly the last 10 years, and these Arken scopes are a product of that. The turrets, zero-stop, and field of view are leaps and bounds better than my HST's. I find it compares very similarly to my Strike Eagle 5-25x56 EBR-7C scope...In both glass quality and function.
Trying to order on their site. Is PayPal the only way to order?
You can probably just punch in a CC number... But setting up a PayPal is very quick and easy. It's also VERY secure. And if you ever have an issue with a purchaser, or shipping, or not receiving your items, or something like that, PayPal will intervene and you can your money back through them. So, it's like an extra layer of buying protection for both buying and selling things online.
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