Thanks!

I'll look at the ERS and LRS before I make a decision. But at this point, I've gone from leaning heavily towards the Vortex to leaning slightly towards just keeping my 16x42 and having the tracking error corrected. If anything, I might just "upgrade" to an Athlon Helos and call it a day. I just can't see myself buying a $1k+ scope for what I do. My wife definitely can't see that happening.

I understand your parallel. Remember, much of the expense in scopes of this type is true tracking. On a camera, your adjusting zoom, and focus, while using very clear glass (hopefully). On a scope of this type, you're adjusting zoom, focus, using clear glass, and adjusting point of impact corrections. Those proper POI corrections come at a price. The functionality, repeatability, and "true-ness" of a turret is a big deal

Yeah, that makes sense. I can certainly see from what you guys are saying how it is an extra factor that can have a major impact on price. I just need to go look at the Bushnells in person. I will say that if the tracking on the Vortex is suspect, then that's an automatic deal-breaker. But I haven't heard anyone say that so far.

I saw an SWFA HD 5-20 non-illuminated that just went for $820 on sniper's hide. That would have been a heck of a deal!

Is the focus knob on your SWFA HD really stiff? I could hardly turn it on the one in store, but it might be easier when it's mounted to a rifle.

I would pony up for a used or new gen 1 razor before the pst.

Focus knob on my SS is not stiff. But it's like a 10 year old saddle, that's been ridden every day. It's well "broke in".

You better jump on that SS for $820, That's a great price for such a useful scope. It might not be the new flavor for 2017, but it's still a very good scope to have. Though, I've got a couple other great scopes, I'll always have a job for my SS 5-20.

The PST Gen 2? Have you seen one in person or read the reviews on it?

Unfortunately that one sold a couple weeks ago. I just found the listing and realized how cheap it had sold for. Thought that was a screaming deal.

Yes and I wasn't impressed.

Interesting. That's not in line with 95%+ of the other reviews I've read online.

It's a step above the gen 1 but at it's typical price point of 1k I'd opt for others. The burris xtr 2 is better imo and better still at typically the 1300 (used) area is the gen 1 razor.

The glass on the Burris looked worse than my $300 SWFA to my eyes. I haven't checked a gen 1 razor.

You should get the PST if that is what you want. Vortex has an excellent warranty should run in to problems. The gen 2 is too new for anyone to give opinions on long term durability. JMHO.

You're right about durability.

I'm not saying I'm set on the PST G2, although it was some amazing clarity for the $. I'm going to go look at all of them again. Might get the PST or I might just keep what I have or I might find something else I love and keep an eye out for a used one. Lots of good input on this thread though.

You really think the Burris is worse than the SWFA fixed? I've heard a lot of good things about the Burris.

It was to me. That being said, I've seen sample variation on the SWFA fixed power. My first copy was pretty good, my second copy was not good at all. This last one I'm using now has been the best of the bunch optically. Not perfect, but really impressive for $300.

It could have been a sample variation issue on the Burris, or it could have just been that my eyes didn't like it, but I just couldn't get a good, clear image at 25x. It was better down at 15x (roughly on par with my 16x42), but that's not why I would be looking at that scope. The SWFA HD and Viper PST Gen 2 were both good, clear scopes, although I will give a slight edge to the PST Gen 2 for my eyes. But either could do the job equally well from an optical standpoint.

It's been a while since I have looked through a ers, but I did a side by side with a dmr 1 and the gen2 pst glass is considerably better! Tracking with mine has been fine on my 22 but I only shoot out to 100 yards with it most of the time. I gave 799 new for mine 3-15 ffp mrad.

Thanks. That's a good price on the 3-15 FFP.

Might take a look at the Bushnell Elite Tactical LRS. On the used side, it's quite a bit cheaper than ERS or SWFA HD.

Anyone try the Sig Sauer Tango 4 6-24x50? Their website leaves a lot to be desired. Very little info on the reticles at all.

I got my PST back from Vortex late last week. I have yet to mount it, but I believe that the magnification ring tightness is significantly better and that the eye relief may be. I won't know for sure until I get it mounted this week.

They also fixed a couple of issues I was not aware of, one of which was a canted reticle. I now have an excuse for my poor shooting (in the past of course).

I will say that Vortex did a tremendous job. I shipped the scope off on a Friday and had it back in my possession the following Friday. Also in the box was a new battery for the illuminated reticle and a pretty awesome Vortex hat. I couldn't be happier with the experience.

Thanks for the post RCINTX. I'm hoping to be able to run by SWFA and compare Bushnell ERS/LRS, SWFA 3-15 non-HD & 5-20 HD, Sig Tango 4, Burris XTR II, and Vortex PST Gen 2. Customer service like that will help lean the decision towards Vortex for sure. That's really excellent.

There is a new sig tango 6 at rifle gear

I can find very little on the sig scopes. The tango 6 seems to be way out of my price range.

Keep in mind most glass will look similar under ideal conditions ie: bright sunny days with low mirage or indoor in a store. Outside in cloudy conditions or backgrounds that blend a target in with terrain the lesser glass stands out.

Good point dee. Went and checked a bunch of scopes in detail today.

Summary:

SWFA 5-20 HD - great glass and overall great scope, but insufficient reticle for the price point, focus knob was super stiff, and turrets were mushy
Bushnell ERS - great scope, high price
Bushnell LRS - terrible reticle and eye box
SWFA 3-15 - very good all-around scope and very, very good for the price, but glass quality considerably behind everything but the Burris and limited magnification range
Vortex PST - good glass, good reticle, good knobs, good eye box, good price
Burris XTR II - terrible glass - so bad that the rest is irrelevant

XTR II-Terrible glass... You need to check with your optometrist and figure that out before you post a review

In all fairness, I looked at only one sample, so it could have been a bad one. But it was worse than the SWFA 3-15, which was noticeably a notch below all of the others. The SWFA HD, B-ERS, B-LRS, and PST were all close enough to not make much of a difference, although I'd rank them SWFA HD, B-ERS, PST, B-LRS if I had to.

The XTR II has a reputation on SH for some folks loving the glass and others hating it. Not sure what about their coatings makes it so susceptible to large variation in personal opinion on the optics, but it does appear to be all over the map. I liked everything else about the XTR - the turrets, knobs, and reticle are all great. But much like the SWFA reticle is just unacceptable for a $1k+ scope regardless of how much I loved everything else, the optics on the Burris are unacceptable for a $1k+ scope regardless of how much I loved everything else.