Aeon Scope Review
I am hoping my 10-40×56 arrives tomorrow. 😎
http://www.network54.com/Forum/79537/message/1395009130/Hearing+a+lot+about+the+AEON+scopes…
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The scope does very well on the .223. Clarity is pretty close to that of the Hawkes Sidewinders. If they add locks on the turrets and eyepiece It may take the best bang for the buck scope. Its shorter and lighter than the Hawke SWs. Let’s see how it holds up to about 2000 .223s in a little over a month.
Will sight it in this weekend. P’Dogs here we come. One more PB in the varmint arsenal.
My 10-40×56 Aeon scope arrived and It looks very good. It’s nearly 3″ shorter than my Hawke Sidewinder 8-32×56 and about 3 oz. lighter w/o IR. It did come with a sunshade and nice scope covers. My initial glance is the optics are basically very close the Hawkes at 24x I looked at briefly. I will do a resolution test soon comparing a few different scopes with a increasing font size grid. I picked the New Trajectory reticle and it is a very nice xmas tree design.
I am impressed enough with it plus the 10-40 magnification that I plan on mounting it on a .223 bolt action varmint rifle for prairie dog (sod poodle) shooting in a few months. It will go on a Remington SPS 700 Varmint in .223 with the X-Mark trigger. I will post the results of my testing. 😉
I totally agree!!!
Just for curiousity I am going to mount it on my Dakota 20 vartarg and test it out to 500 yds. I have a Leupold VX3 LR 6.5-20×50 varmint hunter reticle on it now.
I hope I’m not disappointed with my Leupy afterwards.
Dave
Great report – thanks. I am sure he will. Yes the difference between my high-end scopes isnt worth the money when I could swing another gun Instead. The savings on three SW scopes buys a Humminbird this fall. At 75 yards and 24x I can read the fine print on my birch casey targets that is about 1/8″ high and that is clear enough for me with the 8-32×56 SW Hawkes. So my Leupold Mark 4 is slightly clearer. Who cares. Its not worth the money for pesting.
I spoke to Steve at WWAG today and he is keen to get the scope to you.
I assume it will come from Charlie.
I’m impressed with mine, it is totally usuable, it is clear and bright not head position sensitive and the reticle is “fine”.
I have not run it through it’s paces yet.
I would compare it optically to the midway BSA 4.5-14×44.
Only drawback is the weight which is true on most 30mm scopes.
All my other scopes are Leupold VX3, Bushnell Elites and a Zeiss Conquest 6.5-20×50
Dave
I asked for a 10-40 so maybe they didn’t make it.
I received my 6-24×50 last Monday.
Dave
I received my 6-24×50 last Monday.
Dave
Anyone received the Aeon scope with the last order? Still waiting here and no response from emails. Just about to call.
You mean with Hawkes and Aeon’s you can see little bitty birds at 120 yards and shoot them at high magnifications? 😯 I know a couple of silhouette PB shooters using Hawke Sidewinders out to 1250 yards and one of them is winning – a lot. How could that be? 😯 These scopes are more than good enough for the typically sport shooting we are doing. 😉
You got that right. Everyone’s eyes are different. After my brother adjusts diopter for his use and hands me the gun later, I can’t believe how out of focus the reticle is to me.
I haven’t seen much, if any, improvement using the diopter adjustment to improve high magnification images in the Aeon. The range of adjustment within sharp reticle focus is pretty good for me, but in the Aeons I have, my view of the target is focused with the parallax. The range indicators on the knob are frequently off, but can be adjusted by removing the knob and repositioning it after one ascertains zero.
Forgot to mention: the 32x won’t focus at super-close ranges like 20 feet. Not that anyone needs 32x at that range, but if you want to knock the heads off ants at close range, you’ll need a different scope.
While the Edgun is on vacation at Ernest’s, I’m tempted to put the Aeon on an RWS 48 springer, to see if it’ll take the recoil abuse that Steve indicates.
Looking forward to the comparison w/ Hawke Sidewinder and others. Hmm.. reckon this whole subject ought to be in the optics area of the forum. Too late now.
Good review Bogman. I keep getting told if you have Leupold modify the parallax down to 25 yards or so on the better Leupold’s they get funky at longer ranges as well. Clarity for pellet guns shooting diablo pellets is really irrelevant beyond 110 yards for me. it’s a tradeoff in even the most expensive scopes. 😉 Even the S&B FT $3500 scope says it’s not good much beyond 100 yards.
There is plenty of misinformation out there on scope comparisons. I read over and over again how scopes set for a 10 yard parallax setting are not clear even at close ranges because they have a narrow depth focus range compared to scopes set at 50 yards. That is another tradeoff. It actually allows for more precise ranging. At my range I find plenty of scopes not adjusted properly (eye piece) and the folks can’t figure out why they aren’t clear at higher magnifications.
The last scope I “fixed” was a Barska that the guy next to me kept saying was junk. After I refocused the eye piece correctly he said “What did you do?”. 😆 It isn’t enough just to turn the eyepiece out until the reticle starts to clear up from being turned in all of the way.
I picked up a 8-32 Aeon for limited range backyard pesting. Got a great deal on it and it works for what I’m using it for. Here’s some observations made with the scope on a gun, not reviewed from a box…sheesh!
Eelect and Hoot are right in the haze at high power, to a point. At 32x, the image is fairly clear until you start getting beyond approximately 40-50 yds (in dim light). At distances beyond 70 yds., 32x is hazy, at 120 yds and beyond, it’s near worthless. So, if you’re shooting targets or small, tiny animals at closer ranges, it works well. One application I have is shooting chipmunks and birds out of out of raspberries, blueberries, kiwi fruit, etc.
At 20x, you get an acceptably clear image out to about 100 yds, maybe more. Again, I’m looking through the scope in dim light or overcast conditions. My use during hunting is generally not in full sun.
Basically, the higher magnification gets hazy as the range goes up, the opposite of what you want.
Folks love to bad mouth cheap scopes, but the real question is “What are you using the gun/scope for?” :geekn: I’ve got a Leupy, which is one kick-ass piece of optics, on a .308 because I may use it for a 150+ yd shot. If I’m shooting squirrels and small birds, I’m in a brushy area where there are no 90+ yds shots, so a scope like that is overkill. Another Aeon, that’s on my Cricket, is the 6-24x and I had zero problems pesting all last summer, all kinds of light levels, killed over 200 squirrels in large-scale plantings. A scope is a tool. If you’re going to be taking long-range shots, then you need a higher quality scope or be satisfied with economical scopes at lower magnification, at least for now.
And for cryin’ out loud, get whatever you need to kill squirrels, cheap, expensive, iron sights, rocks, whatever! :4:
I am hearing good things about the clarity of the Aeon’s at high magnification at airgun ranges and it is absolutely free courtesy of WWAG and designed to work with airguns both parallax and reticle wise. I will do a resolution comparison with my Hawke, Nightforce, and Leupold Mark 4 at 24x and 32x (Leupold only 25x max) at ranges out to 100 yards where these airguns shoot. 😉 I especially like the Aeon’s compact size.
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Update from prairie dog shooting. I mounted the Aeon 10-40×50 on my .223 for PDoggin’ and shot it about a thousand rounds. The scope worked admirably with one noted occasional exception. It was very clear and bright at the 32x I used for the entire trip. The only issue came in from recoil. At times, I noticed the side focus would change slightly after some shots. In other words, it made a slight focus shift after a shot occasionally resulting in a fuzziness on the same distance that needed a very slight readjustment. We are only talking about the recoil of a .223 which is pretty minor. No permanent damage occurred to the scope but it sometimes made viewing the impact real time more difficult. As I said the change was subtle and less than 1/16th turn was necessary to refocus. This likely isn’t an issue on a PCP. I will probably get the scope replaced and see if it makes any difference on a gun with some recoil.