Has anyone handled this optic? Looking for a good entry level lpvo to test them out. Like the specs on this scope. How is the glass, illumination, and thickness of the scope body looking through it?
- Thread starter B Man
- Start date
I have not. I have been behind the 1-6 and 1-8 and was not impressed for the price.
In my stable is an older Sig Tango 1-4 and Nightforce NX8, opposite ends of the spectrum in price and glass, both are FFP and live on hunting/precision rifles where I need less speed but moreso need a good 1x for tracking with both eyes open and a good ranging reticle (obviously thats a matter of degrees when we’re talking a 1-4 on a .30-30).
I grabbed an Athlon Helos 1-10x dirt cheap and was impressed for the price since it just went on a “gaming” gun. The SFP has some advantages where I wanted up close speed over accurate ranging across the whole spectrum of magnification. I ended up making that decision in part after watching some of the review videos from C_DOES on youtube; the videos are shot with a canera behind the optic while walking around and showing how the reticle fares in brought light, against illumination wash out, how much scope you can see with proper eye relief, and how “busy” the reticle is at 1x when you want speed. Might be worth peeping a few of those videos just o get a feel for what you’re looking at.
FWIW Riton is Chinese glass in chinese bodies at the low end, Inhave not been able to sort out what products go to Japanese glass so I stopped looking. I personally think they’re pricey for what they bring compared to Athlon, Vortex, and even Swamp Fox optics of similar quality.
In my stable is an older Sig Tango 1-4 and Nightforce NX8, opposite ends of the spectrum in price and glass, both are FFP and live on hunting/precision rifles where I need less speed but moreso need a good 1x for tracking with both eyes open and a good ranging reticle (obviously thats a matter of degrees when we’re talking a 1-4 on a .30-30).
I grabbed an Athlon Helos 1-10x dirt cheap and was impressed for the price since it just went on a “gaming” gun. The SFP has some advantages where I wanted up close speed over accurate ranging across the whole spectrum of magnification. I ended up making that decision in part after watching some of the review videos from C_DOES on youtube; the videos are shot with a canera behind the optic while walking around and showing how the reticle fares in brought light, against illumination wash out, how much scope you can see with proper eye relief, and how “busy” the reticle is at 1x when you want speed. Might be worth peeping a few of those videos just o get a feel for what you’re looking at.
FWIW Riton is Chinese glass in chinese bodies at the low end, Inhave not been able to sort out what products go to Japanese glass so I stopped looking. I personally think they’re pricey for what they bring compared to Athlon, Vortex, and even Swamp Fox optics of similar quality.
Appreciate your time posting this. I talked to the products engineer today, he said the 1, 3, 5 is made in China the 5 has Jap glass. The 7’s are all Jap. I’ve been eyeing the Trijicon Credo HX 1-8 and I may still just get it. But if the Tactix 5 was a nice optic for half the price (on sale for about 700 on a site) I might grab it. I know swamp fox arrowhead gets rave reviews for what it is. I have whatched a lot of C_Does videos. Very good source.
If you're new to LPVO's I would not recommend any 1-10x, and even more so a cheap one. You won't get a good first taste of LPVO life that way.
The Riton X5 and X7 line are all made in Japan. The rest are made in China. The X5 and X7s are nice scopes with X7 being their better scopes, but pricing has gone up over the years which has pushed them out of the good bargain catagory. I have an X7 primal 1-8x28 and it is really nice.
What would you recommend? I know I could probably go Razor 1-10 and be very happy but I’m not sure I’ll be happy with an lpvo either way. The rifle it’s going on is a 16” AR that’s my do it all rifle from SD, at the Farm on the ranger, truck, close and moderate range to 600-700 yards.
Primary Arms PLx line are Japanese and really nice. Great glass. I like the Griffin reticle. Daylight bright and fast to get behind on a true 1x power. The newest model is lighter than the previous. 30mm tube vs 34mm I believe.
I hear a lot of nice things about the PA PLX scopes as well.
Parallax is another consideration. Again using the Tango 1-4 as comparison, it's both dimly illuminated (as many of the older gen LVPOs were) and there is much more parallax even at 1x than with a comparable 1-Nx scope. Something else to keep in mind when thinking about using one as a "gamer" or GP rifle vs say a red dot and magnifier or a fixed power prism (ACOG and Fakogs like the PA Sig and Vortex prisms).
Parallax is another consideration. Again using the Tango 1-4 as comparison, it's both dimly illuminated (as many of the older gen LVPOs were) and there is much more parallax even at 1x than with a comparable 1-Nx scope. Something else to keep in mind when thinking about using one as a "gamer" or GP rifle vs say a red dot and magnifier or a fixed power prism (ACOG and Fakogs like the PA Sig and Vortex prisms).
That's a pretty broad use case, and if you're looking to spend sub $600 I don't know if anything will quite scratch the itch. There are pretty good $600 6x optics but most of them have reticles that won't do you any favors at longer ranges. Any 8x or 10x in that price range is going to suck somewhere, might be terrible at 1x or unusable beyond 7x, or both...
I'm a huge LPVO proponent but it almost sounds like you need and MPVO+RD in this case.
Edit: for some reason I thought the Riton was cheaper than it is. It might be decent, but I still wouldn't hold my breath. I've had good luck with Athlon stuff and had high hopes for their 1-10x, but even for $1k that thing was unusable at 1x, and not great at 10x. If I were you and set on an LPVO I'd save some more shekels and get a PA PLX-C, or try to get behind the EOTech 10x for an evaluation.
I’ve about decided to just ditch the idea of a 1-10 lpvo and go with a RDS over a 2-10 Mpvo, that’ll shave about 10oz off the 3-15 I have on this rifle now. I read a lot and watched comparisons of the Vudu and Razor 1-10’s about deciding to go with one of those and people still weren’t happy with giving up something at 1x or 10x even with those.
Like I said, I'm a huge LPVO fan, but I'm really starting to believe they creep out of their comfort zone above 6x, and 8x might be their maximum if you value both ends of the magnification spectrum. 10x just seems to be so compromised.
I think you'll be happier with an MPVO
A 10X erector is very hard to pull off. 8X is still pushing it.
There are several very nice 1-6X that are available, best bang for your buck is probably the Burris RT6.
Otherwise, a good 2-10 with an off set RDS is pretty damn handy
There are several very nice 1-6X that are available, best bang for your buck is probably the Burris RT6.
Otherwise, a good 2-10 with an off set RDS is pretty damn handy
Those 1-10 usually suck because of the small objective, it makes the exit pupil/eyebox tiny. They will compensate for it by using a 34mm tube but then it gets heavier.
My 308 AR has an older leupold 1-4 which is mil reticule and BDC knob, it's sort of like those little scopes militaries would put on their rifles in the 70s/80s. Big eyebox and weighs about 9oz.
1-6 is probably the best all around, you can get the burris RT6 for 300 bucks and it's made in phillipines/decent reticule/warranty support.
If you go to SPR matches you'll see people with higher powered scopes and then an offset sight. There's a big name range near me that advertises expensive carbine class and one of the requirements for the DMR class is a scope and holosight (on top of scope or 45).
I have an mod 7 in the 6-20x50 range, 100% japanese made. I've got two mod 5 in the 3-9x40, they say no where on them their origin.
All are excellent optics, solid, repeatable turret adjustment. Pretty nice reticles too. I think I bought ~2018 closeout models, making way for new models.
All are excellent optics, solid, repeatable turret adjustment. Pretty nice reticles too. I think I bought ~2018 closeout models, making way for new models.
I'd stay away from Riton brand. Their markups are ridiculously huge. Their $2200 top line (Japan Optics) Japan made X7 Conquer was selling for $649.99 typically sells for $979 and their $649.99 x3 Conquer I've seen selling for $125 typically sells for $349. Do the math. There's been reports of the company not honoring their warranty so be aware. Your buying really cheaply made optics at inflated prices.
I helped design them so take that into account. But it's an awesome scope. I would say get one into your hand and see for yourself. I like the reticle a ton. Again, I drew it so take that into account. It's very useable as a "red dot" on low power but has a tree ret to use on high power.
What companies do you suggest and get behind?
Nightforce, Athlon, Tract Optics, Meopta, Maven, Burris, March, Sightron, Vortex (Only their upper end scopes such as their Razor G2s and G3s and Golden Eagle when you can get them for half off or at least almost half off discount with LE Military friend or relative buy them for you or whenever DVOR or Optics Planet or Scopelist or EuroOptic have them selling at their half price sales) but none of the Chinese Vortexes though I would not recommend their Chinese made scopes period.
Athlon and the Burris Signature HDs are the only brand of Chinese scopes I can recommend with confidence as long as you get their (Athlon) Midas BTR/TAC HD line and above and only when they go on sale or have a friend or relative in law enforcement military first responders buy them for you through Expert Voice for at least 40%-50% off or when Amazon or Walmart online have periodic killer deals on them but I can honestly never recommend paying regular price for any scope made in China not even Athlon.
Having a military friend purchase a discounted optic for you, if you are not eligible is a violation of the agreement you sign and shows a lack of ethics
The reticle is what made me look into this optic. Very nicely done! I did call Riton to see if a dealer was close to get my hands on one, great conversation with the gentleman I talked to there but the closest dealer was about 3 hours away. In the end I did decide to go with a 2-10 optic afraid I would not be happy with the eye box on a 1-10 lpvo from everything I have read.
I don't work nor represent any optics company nor have I ever received anything for free or discounted for any positive reviews nor am I reviewer either.
I'm just an optics and gun enthusiast/hobbyist and like to pretty much try out everything from cheap entry level to mid grade to high end. Over the past few decades have bought many countless hundreds of scopes and optics related equipment such as binoculars, spotting scopes, and rangefinders etc. I buy several (MANY) at a time and compare them all and keep detailed notes and returned a lot fir full refund or credit (you actually won't believe the sheer numbers of amounts of returns I made over several decades) but only the stuff that I personally thought were junk or overhyped or many even just mediocre to sub par for the prices they charge last one was the Bushnell Match Pro ED which I thought was junk and actually had a buyer even after I was totally honest about the reason I hated it. I really don't like to hang on to things that I think is junk.
I was also very fortunate to be able to actually afford a lot of things due to my very generous salary I had during my lines of work before I retired. I bought lots and lots of really stupid things in the past before retirement but I refused to be stupid by getting ripped off when buying guns and optics and accessories that weren't worth keeping.
What Riton scopes have you tried? Have you returned any of the Riton scopes you may have had?
I flipped some which included the X3 Conquer 6-24x50 I paid $125 for ($449 - $300 typical selling prices) and X5 Conquer 5-25x56 I paid $299 for ($450-$699 typical selling prices). I just didn't like their below average optical quality.
I only bought them because they were on sale at too good to be true prices and had high MSRPs of $649.99 and over $1000.
I was going to try their $649.99 Japan Optics made (JOL) X7 Conquer 4-32x56 but the negative feedback from some members on the optics forums including this one mentioned theirs actually broke during their matches. I initially thought paying $650 for a $2000 scope might have been worthwhile to try out but also found out from others who actually bought them, the glass was sub par as well.
I only bought them because they were on sale at too good to be true prices and had high MSRPs of $649.99 and over $1000.
I was going to try their $649.99 Japan Optics made (JOL) X7 Conquer 4-32x56 but the negative feedback from some members on the optics forums including this one mentioned theirs actually broke during their matches. I initially thought paying $650 for a $2000 scope might have been worthwhile to try out but also found out from others who actually bought them, the glass was sub par as well.
I tried the Riton 1-10. Not a bad optic, but I was hoping for a bit more "something" over my Swampfox 1-10. I liked the Riton reticle and it was a decent comprimise being FFP going from 1-10X, but I did not see a notable improvement in clarity over the Swampfox. The Swampfox actually had a better FOV. Eyebox was tight on both at 10X, but that's an issue inherent to the optical limitations of asking any scope internals to deliver a 10X internal range from a 1X baseline out of a small objective.
Anyway I ended up keeping the Swampfox and selling the Riton. I feel the Swampfox price/performance ratio is fair, I'll feel less bad abusing it, while the Riton was lacking a bit for the $$$. Also as others stated here, I think LPVO's in general really shine within the 1-4 to 1-8 range. 10X sounds great in theory but it's just a high demand to put on the internals and there is no forgiveness to the shooter lining up behind one.
Anyway I ended up keeping the Swampfox and selling the Riton. I feel the Swampfox price/performance ratio is fair, I'll feel less bad abusing it, while the Riton was lacking a bit for the $$$. Also as others stated here, I think LPVO's in general really shine within the 1-4 to 1-8 range. 10X sounds great in theory but it's just a high demand to put on the internals and there is no forgiveness to the shooter lining up behind one.
I just got my hands on the 5 Tactix and it's an LPVO that's optimized for long distance engagements at 5x or higher. At 1x or ≤5x I find the reticle a bit too thin IMHO. But reticles are very subjective. Some folks want tactical graphics with chevrons, circles, and holding guides. Others want traditional clean crosshairs. This scope falls in the later camp.
Last edited:
