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Bushnell Elite Tactical LMSS 8-40x60mm Spotter on deck!

LoneWolfUSMC

LoneWolfUSMC

Lt. Colonel
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 9, 2008
7,377
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Southern Indiana
www.8541tactical.com
LoneWolfUSMC said:
What are your questions and concerns about this scope?
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First of all, I love your youtube channel, your reviews and info are excellent. Thank you for your dedication and community support.

That out of the way, can I be first in line to buy the "used demo" of this bad boy once you are done reviewing it? LOL !!!!!!! (I am being 100% serious by the way).
 
Saw one. Tried one. It's an awesome scope.

The reticle is a bit low in the image, and I don't understand why it's only offered in one configuration, because I would have preferred an L shaped Mil reticle along the X/Y axis like the Spotter 60, but it's a very useable spotter for the money and I like the 8x feature.
 
Graham said:
Saw one. Tried one. It's an awesome scope.

The reticle is a bit low in the image, and I don't understand why it's only offered in one configuration, because I would have preferred an L shaped Mil reticle along the X/Y axis like the Spotter 60, but it's a very useable spotter for the money and I like the 8x feature.
Click to expand...

Maybe I need to look through one first, but I'd also like to see other Reticle options offered as well. Having to choose between an H-32 or no Reticle seems kinda lame for such a Pricey "Tactical Spotter".
 
I am interested in how the glass compares to a Razor HD. I certainly would like to have variable magnification AND a reticle, but don't want to give up the clarity my Razor has.
 
Are you able to draw comparisons between the Bushnell glass and Leupold Tactical glass? Assuming both as ranging spotters with reticles.
 
Montana said:
Are you able to draw comparisons between the Bushnell glass and Leupold Tactical glass? Assuming both as ranging spotters with reticles.
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At that price point is not about the glass, it's about the coatings. Both companies have a spec. All of their product ranges within that spec. I have used the Bushnell, though, and it's a more compact spotter than the Leopold with a comparable image.
 
It shouldn't be about the coating at all.

Coating affects only a couple of things, being resistance to flare, contrast and coloration, and finally resistance to debris/rain.

The actual resolution of the image, the optical clarity and transmitted light is ALL about the glass.

The Bushnell and Leupold seem to be in the same ballpark in terms of cost, so I'm interested in relative performance.
 
At this price point, it's both the coatings and the glass. In the world of spotting scopes, both of these are priced towards the low end.

Spotting scopes get a lot more expensive, and often will have exotic extra low dispersion glass to allow different wavelengths to focus at the same plane (less chromatic aberration)

At this price point, and without being advertised as "ED" it is likely that this scope does not use these kinds of glass.

However, I don't believe the leupold does either, and in good conditions the leupold's resolution is excellent. It is as good or better than some of the high dollar scopes with exotic glass in terms of center resolution which is what matters for a tactical spotter. However, the leupold falls short on edge to edge clarity, color, and chromatic aberration, which doesn't matter for our purposes.

Unlike rifle scopes, spotting scopes were originally built for optical clarity for observing birds etc, but the extra bit of optical clarity achieved by the top end spotting scopes does nothing to see bullet holes, which aren't visible due to atmospheric conditions at long distances anyways, which is why the leupold makes such an excellent spotting scope despite it's lesser optics.

I look forward to seeing this bushnell scope.
 
ED glass and the coating that go with it has come down alot in the last 10 or so year. Both Ziess and Nikon have spent million's/billions on this for there lenses that go in to machines used to make computer chips. We just get the left over's.

Any company that want's to make a quality product that will be taken serious can put it in there product's for not much more cost. But will raise the price as we think it costs a lot more to add.
 
I have one of these on loan from a friend in the industry. Without giving too much away, I love it. I'm not sure it has the best glass I've ever seen, but deserves a fair side-by-side to some other spotting scopes with ranging reticles. I really like the size, weight, and the H32. More to come later. Really looking forward to reading LoneWolfUSMC's review.
 
I just got the leupy with Horus reticle and I'm feeling a tad bit of buyers remorse. Maybe I should have went with this Bushnell. Hopefully I'll be able to check one out for myself soon.
 
Thinking of getting one of these. Any input from anyone that has put some time behind one? Are they worth it?
 
mobius38 said:
Thinking of getting one of these. Any input from anyone that has put some time behind one? Are they worth it?
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Mobius, I have 2 of them. I love them, We compared them to the Luppy HD spotter and it was hard to tell a difference in clarity.
Plus these you can put rails on them super easy. And they look awesome with rails. Plus they are very user friendly.

Both of mine have no reticle. I think the reticle adds like $500. Goes from $1500 to $2000 with reticle. I think, Or close to it.

But yes they are sweet
 
mobius38 said:
Thinking of getting one of these. Any input from anyone that has put some time behind one? Are they worth it?
Click to expand...

I sent mine back for a refund. While the fit and finish were great and it had a really solid feel. For the cost the glass was pretty bad. I could see better at 15x with my Premier than I could at 20 or 30x on the Bushnell. Now with my 25x S&B or 25x USO it wasn't even close.... Once you brought the power above ~ 15x the LMSS was pretty bad. I wish the glass was better, I would have paid another $1k if it had better glass.

I ended up getting a KOWA 884, I know its a lot bigger but I also use it at my farm for spotting wild life there too.
 
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