Just purchased a XTR3i. Mine came with an extra exposed windage turret.
The elevation turret has nice audible clicks and no slop. Feels good. I likey. However, the windage turret's clicks are not as audible going right and slightly less going left. However the reticle moves/tracks with each click. So not real worried about it. But is this normal for other folks with the XTR3i? Just curious.
My higher end scopes are Leupold's and then I run a few Arken's and lower end Vortex's.
Just initially out of the box looking/mounting, the XTR3i seems to my eyes to be on par with my VX-6HD 3-18x44 in terms of brightness, clarity, etc. As others mentioned, the XTR3i gives a nice full, edge to edge view. Maybe slightly better than my VX-6HD. Both the VX-6HD and XTR3i are alot brighter than my Mark 5HD 3.6-18x44. Honestly, was a little disappointed in that regard when I first purchased the Mark 5. However, the glass overall on the Mark 5 is still good and has great clarity. Like the VX-6HD it also does really well in low light. My Mark 5 is the non-illuminated version because at the time I couldn't justify the added cost for illumination, but I don't think you need it anyway. There is more tunneling with the Mark 5 also.
Overall, both the Leupold's are great scopes and have served me well for their intended purposes, which has been hunting and target practice out to 1000 yard's. Neither scope has been pushed beyond that distance.
Now back to the Burris. Overall, comparing to the Leupold's I think I like the overall finish of the Leupold's better, i.e., look, feel, and locking turrets. But the XTR3i is no slouch either. It's pretty nice too. I moved the VX-6HD to the new hunting rifle I bought for my two older son's (11 and 13) and needed a new scope for the hunting rig I took that off of.
While I like Leupold, it's getting a little tougher to justify the give and take versus the cost of owning one. With the VX-6HD you get all the bells and whistles but the reticle options aren't great and they only come in second focal plane. If they had a FFP version that would prob be my go to for a hunting rifle regardless of the reticle options. The VX-5HD's are cheaper but you lose some bells and whistles and then again, SFP. The Mark 5's have great features but you got to pay more for illumination, etc. and the glass on my 3.6-18x44 isn't as bright as I think it should be.
So when shopping around, the XTR3i seemed like a great cross over option for my hunting purposes. With the 3.3-18x50 you get the lower end magnification, good glass, wide field of view, illumination, flip caps, and based on reviews, very good durability overall. Basically everything I want in a hunting scope but for half the cost (EV pricing) of my Leupold's. Hence, it seemed like a no brainer to me. Never owned a Burris before but definitely happy to give them a shot.
The older I get the more I value my money haha. I want to pay the least amount I have to for the greatest margin of value I can get. The Burris appears to do that.
So at this point, I am overall happy with the XTR3i. As I get some time behind it and hopefully some fall hunts I'll give some updates.
Hopefully this info helps anyone who is considering the purchase of an XTR3i as well.
