Q&A for ZCO 4-20x50mm Field Eval

[huntnful]

Slight decrease in image??? Boy that's a serious stretch, I sold all my Tenmiles off cuz they suck so bad in low or bright light.
They certainly were reliable though, I just couldn't handle the inferior glass.
I picked up an LRHS2 and it was a noticeable improvement in low light.

This isn't a zco fan boy thing, I love my 7-35 ATACR just as much.

Yeah I guess word slight wasn’t that accurate. But the difference definitely wouldn’t cost me an animal under any legal conditions.

ATACR and ZCO are certainly better glass. But their reticles are not. I killed a buck in the evening with my ATACR and mil reticle. I could barely make out the reticle on the buck. I would rather have inferior glass, and a reticle that’s much better for killing stuff (clearly since I sold all my ZCO’s and ATACR’s lol).

The 56mm Tenmile is about the same image as an ATACR and the 50mm Tenmile isn’t bad at all to my eyes. There’s just better glass out there for sure though.

 

[Formidilosus]

Slight decrease in image??? Boy that's a serious stretch, I sold all my Tenmiles off cuz they suck so bad in low or bright light.
They certainly were reliable though, I just couldn't handle the inferior glass.
I picked up an LRHS2 and it was a noticeable improvement in low light.

This isn't a zco fan boy thing, I love my 7-35 ATACR just as much.

The Trijicon Tenmile and LRHS have the same basic glass- they are near equal across the board, with maybe the Tenmiles having slightly (slightly) better resolution.

If it makes you feel better, I've had two ZCO's with failed parralax adjustments, and one with oil inside the lense after shooting it a few times after I got it back from repair. I have a trijicon tenmile on that gun now and couldn't care less about the slight decrease in imagine. It holds zero, tracks well, has a better reticle for hunting and has had zero issues whatsoever. I just want shit that works now lol. The ZCO's are pleasant to look through though.

The whole “massive difference” between glass is one of the most overplayed and nonsensical things in scopes. The ZCO is slightly better than a Tenmile- zero functional difference.
The Minox ZP5 5-25x56mm THLR is the best “glass” I, and every single person that has compared it to anything side by side with have seen. Is it better the the Tenmiles? Sure. But it isn’t “20%” better- it’s more like 5% at most, and there isn’t a single western animal that I could kill with the Minox that I couldn’t kill with a Tenmiles due to glass.

 

[huntnful]

The Trijicon Tenmile and LRHS have the same basic glass- they are near equal across the board, with maybe the Tenmiles having slightly (slightly) better resolution.








The whole “massive difference” between glass is one of the most overplayed and nonsensical things in scopes. The ZCO is slightly better than a Tenmile- zero functional difference.
The Minox ZP5 5-25x56mm THLR is the best “glass” I, and every single person that has compared it to anything side by side with have seen. Is it better the the Tenmiles? Sure. But it isn’t “20%” better- it’s more like 5% at most, and there isn’t a single western animal that I could kill with the Minox that I couldn’t kill with a Tenmiles due to glass.

I went from a March 4.5-28, to ZCO 527, to a ZCO 420, to a 4-20 ATACR, to a 3-18X44 Tenmile. It was easier to kill shit with the Tenmile. Reticle design played a much bigger role than I initially put much thought into.

Also kill almost everything on 10X and it’s pretty hard to get a poor image on 10X.

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

Yeah I guess word slight wasn’t that accurate. But the difference definitely wouldn’t cost me an animal under any legal conditions.

ATACR and ZCO are certainly better glass. But their reticles are not. I killed a buck in the evening with my ATACR and mil reticle. I could barely make out the reticle on the buck. I would rather have inferior glass, and a reticle that’s much better for killing stuff (clearly since I sold all my ZCO’s and ATACR’s lol).

The 56mm Tenmile is about the same image as an ATACR and the 50mm Tenmile isn’t bad at all to my eyes. There’s just better glass out there for sure though.

Funny I actually made the decision to sell all mine off cuz I couldn't make out a buck at last light this season with the 5-25×50, the image was so dark and distorted I just couldn't tell if he was the big 5 point I'd been chasing.

I did some comparisons after that on a few bucks at last light, and the 527 was absolutely brilliant when the Tenmile was virtually useless.

I've also run the 527 in a night match last summer and had zero issues with the illuminated reticle on lower power.
To each their own though

 

[huntnful]

Funny I actually made the decision to sell all mine off cuz I couldn't make out a buck at last light this season with the 5-25×50, the image was so dark and distorted I just couldn't tell if he was the big 5 point I'd been chasing.

I did some comparisons after that on a few bucks at last light, and the 527 was absolutely brilliant when the Tenmile was virtually useless.

I've also run the 527 in a night match last summer and had zero issues with the illuminated reticle on lower power.
To each their own though

Dang, that's a bummer! Yeah I'm glad we have options for sure. I haven't had any issues, but maybe I haven't been in that exact circumstance that late into the evening. I do also have a spotting scope all the time as well, so I just have to worry about killing the deer with my scope, not putting points on it.

It sounds like we both have scopes that fit our hunting situations and styles perfectly then . I wouldn't be upset to have a 527 on my guns, I just don't think it's the best choice for me is all.

 

[rbutcher1234]

Funnily enough, I find myself gravitating towards scopes now with a better FOV and illum reticles on the bottom end for thermal. Love my 527, but my 3.5-15 NXS is getting more playing time.

The RS1.2 is a surprisingly good thermal clip on scope too.

 

[762 ULTRAMAGA]

Dang, that's a bummer! Yeah I'm glad we have options for sure. I haven't had any issues, but maybe I haven't been in that exact circumstance that late into the evening. I do also have a spotting scope all the time as well, so I just have to worry about killing the deer with my scope, not putting points on it.

It sounds like we both have scopes that fit our hunting situations and styles perfectly then . I wouldn't be upset to have a 527 on my guns, I just don't think it's the best choice for me is all.

It's more of an issue in the timbered/brushy northwest, you better be on your gun because a couple seconds of a clear shooting lane is often times all you'll get.
I did decide to keep my 4-16 Credo though for my AR10, I like it a lot for that application.

I agree lots of great options, this is why I encourage people to do their own testing and not make broad assumptions based on very limited, and imperfect data.