Arken EPL-4 4-16x44mm Q&A

[J_Jacobson196]

No. Environmental changes do not effect a 100 yard zero.

Cross wind jump at the muzzle will though won't it? It'll give you +-0.1mrad change in POI depending on wind direction and speed.

 

[Formidilosus]

Cross wind jump at the muzzle will though won't it? It'll give you +-0.1mrad change in POI depending on wind direction and speed.

Maybe. But we’re not talking .1 mil shifts.

 

[J_Jacobson196]

Maybe. But we’re not talking .1 mil shifts.

Roger fair point!

 

[Ice_man]

@Formidilosus how did you feel the glass compared to other scopes in this price range?

 

[Formidilosus]

@Formidilosus how did you feel the glass compared to other scopes in this price range?

Well considering it didn’t hold zero…


The glass is fully functional.

 

[Formidilosus]

Updated.

 

[Formidilosus]

Updated. Zero shift again.

 

[PNWGATOR]

Damn Toyotas…

 

[Formidilosus]

Damn Toyotas…

Just abusing all these quality optics.

 

[Formidilosus]

Updated. Zero shift again.

 

[yycyak]

Well that's unfortunate.

 

[bgipson]

It shows more than that. Scopes that never show any issues even in heavy use, also pass everything in the drop eval. It shows a tendency for working correctly. Scopes that only pass the single 36” drops tend to work ok, for most lighter use, but do show issues eventually with heavy use- or I should say it’s not surprising when they do. Scopes that won’t hold zero through the single 36” drops eventually show issues just from normal western use- issues are relatively common.


Yes, if you want a scope that holds zero from it all, there are not that many to choose from.

You should make a single pinned thread with all the scopes that pass and don't. I will be in the market for a scope next year and as of now am leaning towards the NF NXS 5.5-22x50. It seems NF has fared well in your tests even though you haven't tested anything in the NXS line.

 

[ZackP]

You should make a single pinned thread with all the scopes that pass and don't. I will be in the market for a scope next year and as of now am leaning towards the NF NXS 5.5-22x50. It seems NF has fared well in your tests even though you haven't tested anything in the NXS line.

So far it’s pretty easy to memorize which ones hold zero

 

[Formidilosus]

You should make a single pinned thread with all the scopes that pass and don't. I will be in the market for a scope next year and as of now am leaning towards the NF NXS 5.5-22x50. It seems NF has fared well in your tests even though you haven't tested anything in the NXS line.

There is an NXS that has been evaled. However, NF scopes work.

 

[Beetroot]

All the scopes that have a zero shift from riding in the truck, are also the scopes that failed some portion of the drop eval. None of the scopes that have passed the whole thing have ever shifted zero from riding in the backseat. Conversely, I believe every scope that has failed some portion of the drop eval, has also had a zero shift at some point from riding in the truck.

The Athlon Helos BTR lost zero from one of the single 36” drops and from the nine 36” drops. After rezeroing, at around 100 miles of forest service roads in a padded seat, it lost zero by .2 mils when checked. There is a trend with all of those if people look at it and take notes. The reason that I rezero them and use them normally even after they failed is to see and show what happens from just normal, light use. Then people can go back and see what it did in the eval and start making connections.

Just to confirm; a bunch of the scopes you do these evaluations on loose zero from driving on paved roads?

This is sitting on the back seat, where you would imagine there is a reason amount of padding.
It’s not like the rifle has been chicken in the back and is rolling around with all your gear?

I’m not calling BS (not at all) but that seems unbelievable.

 

[woods89]

So far it’s pretty easy to memorize which ones hold zero

Yeah, no kidding!

 

[Drenalin]

Just to confirm; a bunch of the scopes you do these evaluations on loose zero from driving on paved roads?

This is sitting on the back seat, where you would imagine there is a reason amount of padding.
It’s not like the rifle has been chicken in the back and is rolling around with all your gear?

I’m not calling BS (not at all) but that seems unbelievable.

Happened to me this season, and it wasn't a small shift - it lost zero, lost paper, lost everything. Totally fricken unbelievable and unacceptable. That was a Vortex, not an Arken.

 

[nobody]

Just to confirm; a bunch of the scopes you do these evaluations on loose zero from driving on paved roads?

This is sitting on the back seat, where you would imagine there is a reason amount of padding.
It’s not like the rifle has been chicken in the back and is rolling around with all your gear?

I’m not calling BS (not at all) but that seems unbelievable.

Check out post #6 on the previous page. There's a video he took depicting what he means by "riding in the truck on forest service roads." As he's stated on the other scope evaluation threads, every scope he's tested that failed the drop tests has lost zero from experiencing what he shows in post #6.

It's really disheartening to see how little modern optics will tolerate in the way of real usage.

Believe it, it's the reason every single guide service in the world requires a "zero check" when you get to camp. Whether you flew from Florida to Alaska, or drove from Northern Utah to Central Wyoming, gotta check zero because "s**t happens" and the scope may have (probably did) wandered.

 

[Formidilosus]

Just to confirm; a bunch of the scopes you do these evaluations on loose zero from driving on paved roads?

This is sitting on the back seat, where you would imagine there is a reason amount of padding.
It’s not like the rifle has been chicken in the back and is rolling around with all your gear?

I’m not calling BS (not at all) but that seems unbelievable.

See below from @nobody-

Check out post #6 on the previous page. There's a video he took depicting what he means by "riding in the truck on forest service roads." As he's stated on the other scope evaluation threads, every scope he's tested that failed the drop tests has lost zero from experiencing what he shows in post #6.

It's really disheartening to see how little modern optics will tolerate in the way of real usage.

Believe it, it's the reason every single guide service in the world requires a "zero check" when you get to camp. Whether you flew from Florida to Alaska, or drove from Northern Utah to Central Wyoming, gotta check zero because "s**t happens" and the scope may have (probably did) wandered.

 

[Beetroot]

See below from @nobody-

Based on that video it kind of is the equivalent of the rifle just laying on the back seat, the rifle is getting shaken and bumped around a bit but hardly being abused. Which again I find incredible how little it takes to shift the zero on some of these scopes.

I'm trying to think of ways I can easily replicate this test myself with the scopes I own.

For future referrence "road testing" described on posts 6 and 7 and video at 18.