Night Force nx8 2.5-20x50 eye box

[backroads]

Hey Everybody,

I am in the market for a new scope and am seriously thinking about pulling the trigger on the new NX8. I have read some stories of less then ideal eye boxes on the SHV and NXS and was wondering what the opinions are on the NX8 eye boxes? Have looked around bit but cannot find much info with it being a relatively new optic.
Optic will be mounted on a 300 Winnie and used by both myself and my wife for range use and hunting elk and mulley's.

 

[gledeasy]

Mine is on a SA and I found no problem with the eye box. I don't think there would be a problem with a LA, but where there is limited mounting space in the front a pic rail may not be a bad idea.

I think it's a great scope. Not perfect, but I like it.

 

[ChrisAU]

Mine is on a SA and I found no problem with the eye box. I don't think there would be a problem with a LA, but where there is limited mounting space in the front a pic rail may not be a bad idea.

I think it's a great scope. Not perfect, but I like it.

What you are referencing with the forward/aft mounting issues with some scopes is eye relief; eye box is the left-right and up-down forgiveness of the exit pupil determined by the exit pupil's size. High zoom ratio erectors (such as the 8x in the NX8) are notorious for smaller "eye boxes".

Example, NF lists the 2.5-20x50 as having an exit pupil of 7.1mm at 2.5x, meaning even at the lowest magnification setting the exit pupil is only 7.1mm in diameter. That is tiny compared to a lot of scopes, requiring a perfect cheek weld for maximum light transmission. You can easily move your head a little and darken or even black out part of the picture. To contrast, the NXS 2.5-10x42 at the same magnifcation, 2.5x, with a smaller objective (42 vs 50), has an exit pupil of 15.5mm, giving the NXS an exit pupil size at 2.5x almost 650% bigger!

After realizing this the last few years I have gravitated towards lower zoom ratio scopes for hunting because they are much easier to "get behind" in hunting situations. The difference becomes more obvious as you zoom in. Laying on a pack with my body twisted up in rocks for a 200 yard shot or twisting around a tree in a treestand for a 40 yard shot "eye box forgiveness" can be critical to making a shot.

 

[Lawnboi]

Very curious about this as well, looking at this scope, however it needs to have a better eye box than the shv f1. Not a big deal for me, but much more so for my wife as we often shoot the same rifle

 

[backroads]

What you are referencing with the forward/aft mounting issues with some scopes is eye relief; eye box is the left-right and up-down forgiveness of the exit pupil determined by the exit pupil's size. High zoom ratio erectors (such as the 8x in the NX8) are notorious for smaller "eye boxes".

Example, NF lists the 2.5-20x50 as having an exit pupil of 7.1mm at 2.5x, meaning even at the lowest magnification setting the exit pupil is only 7.1mm in diameter. That is tiny compared to a lot of scopes, requiring a perfect cheek weld for maximum light transmission. You can easily move your head a little and darken or even black out part of the picture. To contrast, the NXS 2.5-10x42 at the same magnifcation, 2.5x, with a smaller objective (42 vs 50), has an exit pupil of 15.5mm, giving the NXS an exit pupil size at 2.5x almost 650% bigger!

After realizing this the last few years I have gravitated towards lower zoom ratio scopes for hunting because they are much easier to "get behind" in hunting situations. The difference becomes more obvious as you zoom in. Laying on a pack with my body twisted up in rocks for a 200 yard shot or twisting around a tree in a treestand for a 40 yard shot "eye box forgiveness" can be critical to making a shot.

Agreed, this year will be my wives first year hunting muley and elk and i dont want to make anything more difficult for her then it needs to be. I went ahead and ordered the nx8 4-32x50 the reviews on it are pretty decent from what I’ve Beene finding. If the eye relief isn’t good enough I can mount that on a .308 and search for a better hunting optic.