While chatting at their booth at SHOT Show, I asked my buddy Matt at Athlon what his favorite new product was and he surprised me by showing me a Talos 10×42 scope. This fixed power scope is old school without illumination. But has thoroughly modern precision MIL reticle.
The turrets are surprisingly good for an “entry level” scope. Loud clicks and very tactile positive. The elevation has an updated version of Athlon rock solid zero-stop locking ring.
The advantage to a fixed power is that all things being equal has less glass elements and internal gearing than a variable power optic. This translates to less weight and in theory better light transmission, durability, and sharpness. At the range I was able see my targets as clearly as higher power scopes albeit with less detail due to the lower magnification.
For fixed bench competitions at 100yrd, 50yrd rifle or 30yrd air gun having a fixed power scope is not a negative as the target distance doesn’t change. For reliability the adage K.I.S.S. (Keep it Simple Stupid) is an explanation for why having a dependable and capable scope like this Talos has its advantages.
MAGNIFICATION: 10x OBJ. LENS : 42 mm TUBE: 30 mm EYE RELIEF: 3.6″ FOV @ 100 YDS: 11.5 ft PARALLAX: 10 yrds–Infinity CLICK VALUE: 0.1 MIL ADJ PER ROTATION: 6 MIL MAX ELEV ADJ: 35 MIL MAX WIND ADJ: 35 MIIL LENGTH: 13.3″ WEIGHT: 24.6 oz
Kahles is known in the PRS world for having some of the sharpest, clearest scope when going after targets at 1000yrds or more. After 5 years of development Kahles was eager to show off their newest long range precision scope at SHOT Show. This features not a 36mm tube (good luck finding a many choices for mounts) for an extended range of adjustment and a 40% wider field of view.
At this year’s SHOT Show I spoke with one of Element’s owner’s, Shane Keller. This Utah based company with design offices in Sweeden and South Africa. While a relatively new company in sporting optics, this company was founded by professional shooters and optics designers with decades of experience. Their Nexus and Helix scopes quickly gained a following among competition PRS shooters for their quality design, features, and optics which rivaled established premium brands.
At this year’s booth they showcased their new Tier 1 PRS scope, the Theos. This scope effers not just superb optical performance but innovative and practical features such as tool-less turret and zero-stop reset, and a pop-out turret rotation indicator. Their Theos, Helix, and Nexus, feature a stylish gunmetal grey finish and are built in Japan.
In addition to their new rifle scopes, they also offer a 10x binocular and I was surprised to also find out they offered a variety of range finding accessories. Their handheld laser rangefinder that connects via Bluetooth to their ballistic App. What really intrigued me was an unusual small laser rangefinder unit that is designed to piggyback on your existing scope. About the size of a AA EDC light, this unit has an LCD ballistic display on its tail to offer the shooter immediate data to take their shot.
I hope to get my hands on Elements products soon to test them out and learn for myself what all the buzz is about.
EOTech is best known for creating the modern holographic battle sight. But recently they’ve gotten into the magnified optics world with some of the most compact and rugged rifle scopes. But like their military grade optics, their scopes have generally been priced for those blessed with a DoD procurement budget.
At SHOT Show 2024 EOTech debuted their new Vudu X line targeted to the “recreational” rather than the “professional” shooter. These scopes will be more reasonably priced. There will naturally be some compromises with the quality of the glass and ruggedness of the components. But if you’re looking for a scope with EOTech’s name on it and you’re not an “Operator” or a LAPer then the new Vudu X looks promising.
Discovery Optics sent me their ED-LHT precision hunting scope. The new Gen2 features Japanese ED glass, reducing chromatic aberrations and improving overall sharpness. Or at least that’s what ED glass is supposed to do, but given the LHT’s budget price, one can get a little suspicious.
My dubiousness wasn’t helped by the fact that Discovery Optics scopes come with an outrageous amount of stuff. Not just a set of scope rings, but a scope level tool, flip up lens caps, a sun shade, a cleaning cloth, and a cleaning tool. Many budget scopes include mounts or other accessories with the scope to try and attract novice gun buyers by given them trinkets while offering mediocre optics.
But in my testing the ED-LHT out-performed some better known scopes brands I’ve reviewed. The image was clean and bright and impressivlely sharp. I was able to see detail in the USAF Optical Resolution chart at 15x that I’m used to seeing with 24x scopes.
The LHT does have some drawbacks. Its eyebox is tight and unforgiving. Is a bit heavy at almost 28oz. But it’s performance for a $300 scopes is impressive. And with all of its accessories, its even more of a value.
While many optics come to SHOT Show to show off the latest and trendiest, it’s surprising to see a brand bring out a traditional product. Athlon showed me their new fixed power Talos SFP. That’s right, a fixed power scope. This Talos has a fixed 10x magnification.
What is impressive is that this scope has 35mils (120 MOA) of internal adjustment. So this scope is perfect for airgun or competitive bench rest shooters who are shooting at fixed targets at known ranges. Moreover, coming from Athlon’s Talos line, this optic is also one of their most affordable.
Maven is a new company in the Premium Optics world, founded in 2013 in Wyoming by three veterans of the outdoor industry. Their goal was create quality sporting optics without the big box store mark-up by selling direct to consumer through their website. This business model is not new (Arken, Tract, and Discover are some examples) but what does make Maven unique is the level of customization they allow on their products. Maven was the first optics company to offer customers a choice of different color accents, camo patterns, and custom engraving on different parts of their optics.
Perhaps more than most, this scope looked “premium priced”. The price of the RS.5 starts at $1400 and depending on level of customization can run up to $1510. They also offer accessory bundles which include scope rings. The base model arrives in a compressed paper clamshell package, that opens like a high end egg crate; but those fancy ‘cruelty free’ eggs they sell at Organic Markets.
Surface appearances aside, my testing their RS.5 precision hunting scope showed excellent optical and tracking performance. This Japanese made scope has ED glass and an well designed SFP reticle that offered useful elevation and wind hold stadia and a super fine .1 MOA floating center dot for precise long range shooting. Despite its svelt 30mm tube and low profile turret, it offered 100 MOA or vertical travel and precise tracking.
I was especially impressed with the scope’s stylish industrial design. The turrets are resettable but instead of visible hex or slot screws, the top of the turret is seamless hidden locking hut which twists off (though mine was really on tight and required some rubber bands and a pliers to loosen). The control surfaces were nicely checkered and had nice pewter grey accent coloring making the whole scope feel more like a fine timepiece than a typical scope.
I’m looking forward to trying out their other scopes and binoculars. The Maven RS.5 may look boojie but it performs like a badass.
Hi-Lux is known for making vintage style optics, They make the Malcolm, possibly the best reproduction Unertl style scopes on the market. They also make modern tactical optics; last year I tested their PR5 long range scope and found it a solid long range tactical optic if a tad heavy.
At SHOT Show this year, they showed me their new 1-8x LPVO the CMR1. This utilizes fiber optics to achieve a daylight bright central point like a red dot. I hope to get a sample to see how good it performs optically.
Since the departure of Nikon from sporting optics, March Scopes has stepped up to become Japan’s maker of premium rifle scopes. They are known among competition Precision Rifle Series (PRS) shooters for their high power scopes. At SHOT Show I was introduced to their new 80x Majesta scope, the highest power rifle scope I’ve ever seen. And the Genesis, a 4x-40x scope that puts the Extreme in Extreme Long Range (ELR) shooting with 400 MOA (116 MIL) of adjustment.
Conquer is Riton’s flagship long range rifle scope line with the 5 denoting this models magnification factor. This is the first Conquer scope Riton has sent me to test. I was eager to try one out since first seeing the newly redesigned line at SHOT Show 2023. All of their scopes now feature a unique twisted grove patter inspired by the rifle twist in the barrel of a firearm. This is not only stylish but the pattern provides an aggressive contact texture on their rings, knobs and turrets.
Looking through the scope, the image was clear and sharp with a warm tone bias. My camera saw chromatic aberration looking through the glass at 25x at 100yrds. Despite this, I was clearly able to make out .22LR bullet holes on paper; even the wrinkles on the paper target. Using the USAF-51 chart, its resolution was as good as any 25x scope I’ve tested.
This scope has a fairly unforgiving eye box. At 25x it has a fairly small exit pupal of 1.6mm. Tight eye boxes is a common experience I’ve had with Riton scopes. This is also a common complaint of most high power scopes under $1000 (the Arken EP5 is an example of that). The 5 Conquer has an MSRP of $959, which for the average rifle owner isn’t cheap. But comparing it to the Leupold Mk5 which has a similar resolution performance, this scope is a value.
I can’t speak to the long term durability of this scope, since I’ve only put it through a couple of mags of .22LR and 5.56. It has so far held zero. Riton’s customer service is responsive and their optics have a transferable Lifetime warranty. The same can’t be said of more expensive European brands.
This scope is available on Amazon. This affiliate link helps support my channel https://amzn.to/46R6rLq
RESOLUTION
Group: -1 Element: 6
MANUFACTURER SPECS
Magnification:
5-25
Parallax Adjustment:
20-infinity
Tube Diameter:
34mm
Objective Lens Diameter:
56mm
Focal Lens Position:
First Focal Plane
Lens Coating:
Fully Multi-Coated, Full Wide Band, Waterproof Coated, Low Light Enhancement
