Zeiss Conquest V4 Glass

[General RE LEE]

Question: Is the glass in the Conquest V4 line from Zeiss “HD” glass?

 

[norcan]

No.
The V4 is Zeiss’ entry-level range. They have a discontinued line called HD5 that was roughly comparable.

There’s also the HT range, which is their top of the line and completely separate from the Conquest scopes.

 

[SoTxShooter]

For the price tag, I feel like the Zeiss V4 is at or above everything it is competing with in terms of glass quality. I just bought a Nightforce NX8 4-32x50 and did a side by side comparison. I think the center clarity of the NX8 is slightly better than the Zeiss, but the V4 may have it beat edge to edge. And I paid $800 more for the Nightforce. Something to consider!

 

[General RE LEE]

For the price tag, I feel like the Zeiss V4 is at or above everything it is competing with in terms of glass quality. I just bought a Nightforce NX8 4-32x50 and did a side by side comparison. I think the center clarity of the NX8 is slightly better than the Zeiss, but the V4 may have it beat edge to edge. And I paid $800 more for the Nightforce. Something to consider!

I have 3 VX5HDs and a Conquest V4. I have been doing side by side comparisons and they are very very close. The VX5 HD is sharper edge to edge but I am splitting hairs.

The Leupold is HD glass and the Zeiss V4 is not but the coatings on both are excellent.

 

[SoTxShooter]

I have 3 VX5HDs and a Conquest V4. I have been doing side by side comparisons and they are very very close. The VX5 HD is sharper edge to edge but I am splitting hairs.

The Leupold is HD glass and the Zeiss V4 is not but the coatings on both are excellent.

Yeah the VX5 is a solid choice as well in that price range. You could poll 10 people on which scope they like better between the Zeiss and Leupold and you'd probably be split 50/50. Both awesome for the price.

 

[General RE LEE]

I do think the Zeiss is ever so slightly sharper than the VX5HD.

 

[norcan]

Wait, does “HD” actually have some specific meaning for optical lenses or is it just a marketing term?

 

[General RE LEE]

Wait, does “HD” actually have some specific meaning for optical lenses or is it just a marketing term?

Yes the actual term is ED for “extra dispersion” glass but some brands use HD.

ED Glass Vs HD Glass in Binoculars - Binoculars Guru

You might be confused about ED Glass Vs HD Glass. Let me bust all the jargons associated with ED glass & HD glass...

www.binocularsguru.com

 

[norcan]

@General RE LEE
Cool, thanks. From that article, it seems like there’s no accepted definition and it’s just a thing some companies label their fancier products with.

 

[General RE LEE]

@General RE LEE
Cool, thanks. From that article, it seems like there’s no accepted definition and it’s just a thing some companies label their fancier products with.

No ED is actually a legitimate feature in the manufacturing process of glass. It helps correct chromatic aberration and clears up the image even further

What is Extra Low Dispersion (ED) Glass

Extra-low-dispersion glass, also known as ED glass, is widely used in optics applications where clarity of vision and accuracy are important. It's found in high-end camera lenses, binoculars, sights, scopes, rangefinders and countless other devices that depend on precise image quality. Upland...

www.uplandoptics.com

 

[norcan]

@General RE LEE
Yes — ED refers to a specific thing, but HD seems to be a marketing term without any defined standard.

Regardless, the glass Zeiss uses in their V4 line is decent in my experience.

 

[country_20boy]

I do think the Zeiss is ever so slightly sharper than the VX5HD.

I agree. I have looked through both side by side and I think the Zeiss wins, but it's so close it doesn't matter.

 

[Str8shooter]

I agree the zeiss v4 and leupold vx5hd are very close in clarity and brightness, which is to say substantially better than needed for legal hunting hour situations. The zeiss wins in my book due to its testing protocol and the comparative lack of reports of V4s POI shifting or difficulty returning to zero. I reached out to zeiss to get more testing details and they ressonded :
"Vibration and Recoil tests are conducted and the instruments are subjected to
a force of 1500 G's.The "group" or aimpoint of the reticle cannot deviate.This would correlate to accuracy not changing"
My V4 has been stellar in RTZ and tracking and has not lost zero over 120 rounds and 2 seasons treating it like a mountain gun should be.

 

[TigerAG16]

I owned a Zeiss V4 and was very happy with it. Like mentioned above, it is their entry level glass, but I was very impressed with it. I never felt like I was missing out on clarity while using it. I believe it is one of the best values in scopes at its price point.

 

[Jr4]

Own 3 V4s, can’t be beat IMO for the price point