Q&A for Minox ZP5 5-25x56mm THLR scope

[Nine Banger]

Did anyone get one of the new ones yet?

I was hoping to mess with one this weekend. No dice.

 

[id_jon]

Mine should arrive today

 

[RockAndSage]

Mine should arrive today

Same, mine's supposed to arrive today as well.

 

[Dobermann]

@Nine Banger, @id_jon, @RockAndSage and others - when you get them, post up your reflections here so others have more reference points ...

Again, there was a flurry over on the Hide when they first hit the US, with key posts by Glassaholic, Dave of JustF'n', Big Jim Fish, and others; would be good to collate more hunting- and field shooting-based experiences here.

Also feel free to post questions. @Formidilosus, @mxgsfmdpx, and @Ryan Avery have more time on theirs than I do, but I'm sure one of us would be happy to answer questions.

And remember that @THLR is on this board, so any confusion/concerns should be expressed with respect. Just sayin.

 

[rbutcher1234]

My two will be here Wednesday scoring to tracking

 

[Dobermann]

My two will be here Wednesday scoring to tracking

Let's add you to the list of who we expect to hear from in this thread then.

 

[Nine Banger]

@Nine Banger, @id_jon, @RockAndSage and others - when you get them, post up your reflections here so others have more reference points ...

Again, there was a flurry over on the Hide when they first hit the US, with key posts by Glassaholic, Dave of JustF'n', Big Jim Fish, and others; would be good to collate more hunting- and field shooting-based experiences here.

Also feel free to post questions. @Formidilosus, @mxgsfmdpx, and @Ryan Avery have more time on theirs than I do, but I'm sure one of us would be happy to answer questions.

And remember that @THLR is on this board, so any confusion/concerns should be expressed with respect. Just sayin.

Mine just had a label created. I'll probably be shooting by next weekend. I'm probably going to put it on a 6 creed since it was made for the 6XC.

Can you PM me a link to the best thread you're following over there?

I've been watching @THLR vids whilst reloading if I'm not on a zoom call. I like them and dude is funny; I wasn't expecting all the dead pan.

 

[Dobermann]

Can you PM me a link to the best thread you're following over there?

It wasn't threads as such; just a lot of different posts by mainly those three guys listed above. It will take a while to search through all of the threads that reference "ZP5", but there were some very telling posts - mainly about glass quality, though ... so more of a concern on the Hide than here, for the most part. But the overall point was that people tended to say that the ZP5 was far superior optically than the ATACR (the 5-25 was its most likely competitor at the time), and up there (or better than) S&B, ZCO, and Tangent - which raised some eyebrows.

(And I'm reluctant to say this, but I screenshotted a bunch of these some years ago .. so if you're really lazy, I could have a look and post a few up here. Not sure what the quid pro quo would be ... you commit to sell me your ZP5 for $1500 if you don't like it would work. )

I haven't hung out there much after all the site changes, but the buzz about the ZP5 seemed to die away for a few reasons:

• they were heavily discounted by Blaser at one point and people then got grumpy about resale value
• one of the main retailers posted some cryptic messages about their performance, but would not give details - and then started carrying another major brand
• ZCO and Tangent came to market and grabbed the high-dollar end; Vortex, Leupold, and Burris kept putting out low/mid-tier options; and a raft of "ex Navy SEAL starts new scope brand"-type slop came online for the cheaper crowd (Athlon, Riton, Arken, etc etc etc).
• Also not sure there was ever a market there for the THLR reticle, and while the MR4 had good reviews, lots of competing brands brought other reticles to market and some people chase new reticles like dogs chase cars.

Hope that helps.

 

[Nine Banger]

It wasn't threads as such; just a lot of different posts by mainly those three guys listed above. It will take a while to search through all of the threads that reference "ZP5", but there were some very telling posts - mainly about glass quality, though ... so more of a concern on the Hide than here, for the most part. But the overall point was that people tended to say that the ZP5 was far superior optically than the ATACR (the 5-25 was its most likely competitor at the time), and up there (or better than) S&B, ZCO, and Tangent - which raised some eyebrows.

(And I'm reluctant to say this, but I screenshotted a bunch of these some years ago .. so if you're really lazy, I could have a look and post a few up here. Not sure what the quid pro quo would be ... you commit to sell me your ZP5 for $1500 if you don't like it would work. )

I haven't hung out there much after all the site changes, but the buzz about the ZP5 seemed to die away for a few reasons:

• they were heavily discounted by Blaser at one point and people then got grumpy about resale value
• one of the main retailers posted some cryptic messages about their performance, but would not give details - and then started carrying another major brand
• ZCO and Tangent came to market and grabbed the high-dollar end; Vortex, Leupold, and Burris kept putting out low/mid-tier options; and a raft of "ex Navy SEAL starts new scope brand"-type slop came online for the cheaper crowd (Athlon, Riton, Arken, etc etc etc).
• Also not sure there was ever a market there for the THLR reticle, and while the MR4 had good reviews, lots of competing brands brought other reticles to market and some people chase new reticles like dogs chase cars.

Hope that helps.

I've had the 5x and 4x ATACR. Will weigh in when it's time.

 

[Dobermann]

I've had the 5x and 4x ATACR. Will weigh in when it's time.

I think that will be the easy part ... but there'd be value in posting about everything else.

 

[5MilesBack]

I got mine today. 37oz on the nose with scope caps. Took me awhile to find the serial number, not where I expected it......on the eyepiece.

Also, on elevation adjustment where it's already set at it adjusts 13.7 up and 15.7 down. Don't know if that's standard, but I'll probably use it on my rifle that already has a 20MOA rail on it, so should be on the lower half of the range to start.

Also, I can't get the picture focused at any distance.....close or far. It's blurry all the way out from close to 1000 yards plus, regardless of mag and/or parallax adjustment. That can't be right.

 

[rbutcher1234]

I got mine today. 37oz on the nose with scope caps. Took me awhile to find the serial number, not where I expected it......on the eyepiece.

Also, on elevation adjustment where it's already set at it adjusts 13.7 up and 15.7 down. Don't know if that's standard, but I'll probably use it on my rifle that already has a 20MOA rail on it, so should be on the lower half of the range to start.

Also, I can't get the picture focused at any distance.....close or far. It's blurry all the way out from close to 1000 yards plus, regardless of mag and/or parallax adjustment. That can't be right.

You set the diopter with the parallax at max distance?

 

[5MilesBack]

You set the diopter with the parallax at max distance?

I was all over the place for awhile trying to get it right, I've never had this much trouble setting a scope. Hard to tell for sure though as it's a gloomy day. I'll wait for a bright sunny day to get it perfect. Thanks.

I just set the diopter with max parallax, then looked out about a mile and it was blurry. Had to go to lowest distance setting for it to clear up.

 

[Dobermann]

I was all over the place for awhile trying to get it right, I've never had this much trouble setting a scope. Hard to tell for sure though as it's a gloomy day. I'll wait for a bright sunny day to get it perfect. Thanks.

I just set the diopter with max parallax, then looked out about a mile and it was blurry. Had to go to lowest distance setting for it to clear up.

Pretty sure there's a dedicated article on the Hide about setting up a diopter properly, if that helps.

 

[Dobermann]

Not sure if Form has posted these already in this thread, but cross-posting here for people who want to get an idea of the THLR reticle in use: https://rokslide.com/forums/threads/q-a-on-nf-nx6-scope-reviews.436364/page-10#post-4522044

 

[RockAndSage]

@Nine Banger, @id_jon, @RockAndSage and others - when you get them, post up your reflections here so others have more reference points ...

Again, there was a flurry over on the Hide when they first hit the US, with key posts by Glassaholic, Dave of JustF'n', Big Jim Fish, and others; would be good to collate more hunting- and field shooting-based experiences here.

Also feel free to post questions. @Formidilosus, @mxgsfmdpx, and @Ryan Avery have more time on theirs than I do, but I'm sure one of us would be happy to answer questions.

And remember that @THLR is on this board, so any confusion/concerns should be expressed with respect. Just sayin.

Mine came in, in a red box, with a 2020 (MMXX) quality control card.

I haven't been behind huge numbers of scopes, but have had Swarovskis, Leupolds, Nightforce, and Trijicons. The first, absolutely surface-level things noted in playing around with this Minox for about 15 minutes this evening, after lightly putting it into mounts on a rifle, are:

1) The throw on the power is about 180 degrees - very easy to go from 5x to 25 in one quick twist. Not too stiff, but not so loose that it'll get moved accidentally when in the field.

2) Turrets are firm, with crisp clicks - enough so that it's not likely to rotate without being grabbed, with torque.

3) The parallax knob doesn't have distance increments - my only criticism thus far. Just a long triangle that goes from a fine point for its closest distance parallax, to wider, as it gets to an infinity symbol at max rotation.

4) The image in this thing at night is bright, super crisp, and clean, with no moon out, just clear sky with stars. The slightest bit of light on a surface at distance comes in completely clear with great image.

5) The reticle is excellent at night with the big outer posts, anywhere from 5x to 25x. I had no problem finding them on the lowest power anywhere I was looking, except when pointed at the darkest shadows filling the view entirely. My eye was drawn right to center, and even without the dot illuminated it would have been easy to find a good enough center to hit out past 150ish as a rough guess, on the lowest setting, even with minimal and dim light on the target. Higher magnifications were even easier, as the center-box starts showing up. It's not magic, but it's damned impressive. And just easy to find.

6) The illuminated center-dot is perfect for night use - not the slightest bit of bleed, just a perfectly small dot right in the center. The only time I could get the dot to not be seen on its brightest setting was in putting the dot directly on a light. It says in the manual that the "reticle illumination is not intended for use in daylight. Even the brightest settings are barely visible in daytime." My only interest and concern in the daylight with the dot is how it does against a dark shadow, or broken, dark brush/timber, as well as in twilight. But thus far it's been pitch-perfect at night.

Looking forward to taking this thing out in the daytime, and seeing how it does. This might be confirmation bias, but thus far, it has significantly better image and usability at night over any other scope I've ever looked through.