Re: FYI - Bushnell FFP Mil Reticle Spotter
First day *using* the new FFP Bushnell Spotter is in the books...
Initial, "Day 1" impression, not bad, had some small issues right off the bat, but nothing I would call a deal breaker yet, especially when you consider the price tag.
To start, I compared it directly to a Leupold Tactical Spotter on the line, and frankly, its pretty close to the Leupold in the quality market.
As you can see it is the same size, roughly, very similar in design to the Leupold, almost as if they shopped at the same store.
The reticle, a clean, crisp, straight up, Mil Dot, nothing fancy, but very nicely sized even for a FFP scope. I used it all day out to 600 yards on 22X... which is interesting, yes it actually has a 22X power marking. Like they were thinking, 15X, 22X, hmm. I sort of liked that and felt it was a nice touch. Focus worked flawlessly, Eye relief, "generous" even wearing sunglasses I had plenty of room, about an easy 1" of relief to get a full sight picture. It has a locking ocular focus, another plus.
Down side, huge spherical aberrations at 15X, it reduces significantly as you increase power, but at 15X it's pretty distinct. Center is fine, reticle is unaffected but its pretty soupy at low power. I didn't have an issue at 22x, if you were to just start off trying to get a first impression, the picture at 15X might very well disappoint. At 100 yards, I was able to see 5 double spaced targets, and the center target was clear and distortion free, but the outside edge of both the right and left of center targets were starting, and the two outside targets, awful. But it keeps the reticle clear.
Remember, just the first day, so I still have a lot of things to do with this spotter, but I'm happy with what I see so far, especially when I consider the price and features provided overall. Had this spotter been around 10 years it would be owning the mainstream market right now. It's every bit as good as the Leupold at half the price and remains Front Focal Plane in an almost exact package. Sure the cover is cheaper than the one used on the Leupold's but its included, along with a small tripod and decent case, so you can't say Bushnell didn't try to give the lower end market everything someone would ask for...
More to come.... later.