Leupold VX5 HD 3-15x44 illuminated

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Quick review Leupold VX5 HD 3-15x44 illuminated
« on: Yesterday at 11:48:09 PM »
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As some will recall I had promised to do a quick review on the new Leupold VX5 HD 3-15x44 illuminated when it arrived. I had one turn up from Nioa at the beginning of the week but I've been carting wheat for a mate so haven't had a chance to look through it in daylight until just now.
First observations when opening the box were that you don't get the wet suit material cover that you got with the VX6 and no cleaning cloth provided anymore. You do get some lens covers with an elastic material holding them together. For most situations these are more useful than the neoprene type anyway. Other than that it had a very typical Leupold look about it. Nice matte finish and typical Leupold build quality which is good. It has the usual Leupold lifetime warranty on the optical system and 5 years on the electronics for the illuminated reticle. Leupold and Vortex pretty much set the standard by which scope warranties are judged.
The scope incorporates much of the latest technology in hunting scopes and with a 5 x zoom and 30mm tube is reasonably heavy at 539 grams.
Overall length is 343mm so neither compact nor overly long for a scope with 15 x magnification.
Field of View runs from 2.5m through to 12.7 metres at 100 meters on 15 power and 3 power respectively. I think that stacks up pretty well with major competitors.
In an attempt to create a more "forgiving" eyebox Leupold have increased the diameter of their ocular lenses on the VX5 and VX6. The ocular bell on this scope is 45mm in diameter. More akin to modern European scopes than to Leupolds of old. A good feature but one which makes it more difficult to mount really low on some of the older bolt actions with 90 degree throw bolthandles.
The scope tube has reasonable mounting length which should facilitate mounting on long actions and most magnums. There should be no need for an extension base on the front to bring the scope back close enough to your eye without craning your neck to get a sight picture. Some will think nothing of this but I see it as a very important feature and one that I always consider before buying a scope to go on a long actioned rifle. Shooting quickly and accurately, particularly offhand is easiest when your neck is in a natural position. I see many scopes mounted on rifles with long or magnum actions that simply won't allow this and so force the shooter into an unnatural and uncomfortable head position. You should be able to close your eyes, throw your rifle to your shoulder and have a perfect sight picture when you open them. The combined measurements of eye relief (94-97mm on this scope), length of the ocular housing (84mm) and length of scope tube from ocular housing to commencement of the objective bell (137mm) determine how far back your eye will be from the front edge of your front scope ring. On this Leupold the combined total is 315mm which is better than most.
Being a scope with 15 power magnification at the top end this scope needs and has side parallax adjustment. Range graduations seem to be pretty reasonable, something you can't take for granted in my experience. Like most scopes of this power range it is necessary to adjust the parallax in order to get the best focus on your target. When the parallax setting is well out you certainly get a fuzzy image. The housing incorporates the battery and intensity adjustments for the illuminated Firedot reticle. I have the same reticle on two other Leupolds and really like it. Basically a medium duplex with an illuminated dot in the centre of the crosshair when you turn it on. Leupolds have a good feature that senses movement and turns the reticle illumination off when the scope sits still for awhile. Saves your battery.
This scope has some features whoch are based around the current popularity of long range hunting. First up it has 75 MOA of elevation and windage adjustment. Something you can't get with older 1 inch tube designs. It also has what Leupold refer to as their ZL2 elevation turret. This is an exposed low profile target-type elevation turret with a zero stop. Two turns of the turret take you from zero to maximum elevation for quick dial ups. Clicks are your standard 1/4 MOA. The dedicated long range nuts usually prefer 1/10 milliradian clicks but the yanks still struggle with the metric system so you'd need to buy a tactical model to get that. There is a pop up button which prevents you winding back to below your zero range. The button retracts when you commence your second turn of elevation too so is a good visual indicator and should save some potential for confusion there.
The windage turret is covered with a threaded cap and has a pop up dial that allows you to reset your windage to zero once the rifle is sighted in. A good idea.
The VX5 HD comes with a free CDS (custom dial system) so you can set up the elevation adjustment to be correctly calibrated for the trajectory of your favourite load once you know what that is. Custom dials are ordered from Nioa but of course you must provide them with some external ballistics data for your load.
The ocular bell has an adjustable focus ring with friction adjustment to enable you to get the reticle into sharp focus. European influence again and something I like. This scope doesn't have the rubber ring to prevent "Weatherby eyebrow" that my VX6 scopes have.
I guess there are a variety of different ways to test and compare the resolution of a scope or binocular. In the past I have used a Snellen eye chart when tring to compare scopes. In this case it was a test, not a comparison. One simple method I like is to set up the optic on a steady rest and then focus on a leafless twig in a convenient tree. I chose one about 150m away. Is the twig well focussed and are the fine details of its form sharp? Does the twig look as sharp at the very edge of the field of view as it does in the centre? Is there any linear distortion ie. do straight lines appear straight or curved? Does the image quality extend across the entire magnification range? Many scopes fall down in this regard and not all of them are cheap. I have been very disappointed with the Zeiss Duralyt and to some extent with a Leica in recent years. Leupolds, or at least their more expensive lines are usually very good in this regard and so I was disappointed to read that another AHN member believes that the image quality of their VX5 HD is less than perfect at the very edge of their field of view. I am pleased though that in my scope at least there was no detectable reduction in clarity from edge to edge. As near to perfect as my old eyes can see anyway.
It was too dark to do any low light comparative testing by the time I'd finished with everything else tonight. Nioa claim there is nothing between the VX5 HD and a Swaro Z5. Robbo claims the Z5 is better. I'm not sure who is more biased. :stir: Other reviews of the new Leupold praise it for its low light performance so I expect it will be more than adequate for anything I'll ever do with it. Previous testing that I have done has shown that the differences between top end and upper middle of the range optics in low light are more about the imagination of the scope buyer than lens coating quality in most cases. Comparing scopes for brightness when looking out the door or window of gunshop in broad daylight is a waste of time as is most testing done in a short range urban environment. Trying to get an idea of optical quality or resolution without having a steady rest is likewise a waste of time and yet this is how and where most guys will make a buying decision and then justify that to the rest of us.
Overall I'm impressed with the VX5 HD but the proof of the pudding will be fitting up the scope to a rifle and using it for a couple of years. I think this one is going to find a home on my Sauer 202 in .25/06 and that the bulkier VX6 in 3-18x50 that lives there currently might go on my Sako L579 varmint in .220 Swift. Just need to grab some higher rings from my shop for the Sako.
The VX5 HD 3-15x44 with the firedot illuminated reticle retails at $1500AUS.

[wlm]

dankie