ZeroTech TRACE ADV 3-18×44 FFP Shoot2Hunt

[43.6N]

To address the branding bullshit again, not a single time did I ever look at the scope in person and say "that's too much". Y'all need to take a wrap off and realize that animals don't give a shit about what's on the scope, and you shouldn't listen to other shooters/hunters who care more about looks than performance.

Bringing this thread back on track with some first-hand experience, happy to answer questions if I/other winter class users can.

The scopes performed well all week, with all three being used by various students on different days. No issues that weren't user-based were observed (no scope caps, so snow in objective and fogging/icing ocular from breathing don't count). The glass is very good, and with illumination there were no issues hitting targets at 460 yds past legal shooting light. The throw lever placement is brilliant, staying out of the way of the bolt handle & hand during cycling even when spun to max magnification. The eye box and eye relief are nice and forgiving, and the diopter/focus are fast to adjust and lock down very tight once set. The two scopes I used both tracked correctly and accurately even at low temperatures. The reticle is very good, the modified THLR is very fast to center your eye on and the 1 Mil box allows your eye to bracket the target and make accurate hits without overthinking or searching for it. The thicker posts are great in low light to bring your eye to center, and at ranges I would be interested in shooting an animal in low-light will allow for fast hits just from the tip of the vertical post. Wind holds are fast and easy to sort out on the fly, with clear visual cues as to what you're actually holding vs feeling like you're lost on counting .5 Mil ticks. It is hard to adequately explain how intuitive the reticle is, @THLR is a wizard.

I shot the S2H scope back to back with both a SWFA 3-9x and Maven RS1.2. I know what will be on my hunting rifles this fall, and it isn't those two.

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Thanks for trying to pull the thread back to center.

In practical use, did you use the whole mag range? Or was most of the shooting done in the 6-10x range? Was there any darkening or brightening of the image past a certain magnification? And finally, the center box, how low of a magnification can you still see it at?

 

[blksno]

If you're not interested in the reticles, then this probably does nothing for you that a NightForce or Trijicon doesn't already do.

This scope is intended to be a durable scope that can handle side impacts without losing zero and has an FFP mil/mil reticle designed for hunting. That's the best short version I can offer.

Well its half price of my NX8s with locking turrets, so thats a huge bonus on a hunting scope.

 

[RancherJohn]

Thanks for trying to pull the thread back to center.

In practical use, did you use the whole mag range? Or was most of the shooting done in the 6-10x range? Was there any darkening or brightening of the image past a certain magnification? And finally, the center box, how low of a magnification can you still see it at?

The majority of my use came in the 5-12x range, although I played with it across the full range. A few times on the rifle I had gone too far on mag, and it was fast to spin back to a reasonable zoom while still on the gun. I did not notice a change in image quality or resolution regardless of mag. I can't definitively answer where the box stopped being visible, as once I dialed back below ~5x my eye switched to using the thick posts to center/bracket the target. I had very little flat range time with this scope, almost all of my time was at ranges from 300 to over 700 yards. Low-light resolution and contrast was great, the 460 yd target in low light I referenced was shot on ~9x.

It is hard to describe the manner in which the mag and reticle work together, I found myself not caring what the mag number was; I just found a mag that gave me a FOV that allowed me to keep the target in sight and started shooting. I did not find a spot in mag where the reticle was unusable. There was a student there with a NF that could not shoot at dusk with lower mag due to not being able to find the reticle.

 

[43.6N]

The majority of my use came in the 5-12x range, although I played with it across the full range. A few times on the rifle I had gone too far on mag, and it was fast to spin back to a reasonable zoom while still on the gun. I did not notice a change in image quality or resolution regardless of mag. I can't definitively answer where the box stopped being visible, as once I dialed back below ~5x my eye switched to using the thick posts to center/bracket the target. I had very little flat range time with this scope, almost all of my time was at ranges from 300 to over 700 yards. Low-light resolution and contrast was great, the 460 yd target in low light I referenced was shot on ~9x.

Thank you sir
Did you see them take any good hits?
Once they fogged up, was it a pretty straightforward process to clear the fogging?

 

[brazz04]

Who will be the independent testers of this scope? Obviously it can't be folks associated with Shoot 2 Hunt or Rokslide considering they stand to profit roughly 75k per month on the sales. Just wondering where and how that will be done.

 

[43.6N]

Who will be the independent testers of this scope? Obviously it can't be folks associated with Shoot 2 Hunt or Rokslide considering they stand to profit roughly 75k per month on the sales. Just wondering where and how that will be done.

I think the “independent” testers will be anyone willing to buy one at this point. Some of us have seen enough to take a chance and put money down. Others aren’t there yet.

The guys bringing this to market in a very opinionated and transparent forum, are staking their reputation on this scope being what they say it is. If it isn’t, I expect plenty of feedback in a very public manner to be given.

 

[brazz04]

It will be hard for someone on this preorder list to not have any bias with the scope considering how much they likely follow every word of the folks selling it on this site. Hence my question.

What if it fails the drop testing? Minds will crumble.

 

[omicron1792]

Who will be the independent testers of this scope? Obviously it can't be folks associated with Shoot 2 Hunt or Rokslide considering they stand to profit roughly 75k per month on the sales. Just wondering where and how that will be done.

I hear this a lot with the .223 thread.

People here are MORE likely to post negative reviews if the product doesn’t meet expectations, not less.

Check my posts, no kiss ass here. I’ll post exactly the results I get with my two scopes.

 

[RancherJohn]

Thank you sir
Did you see them take any good hits?
Once they fogged up, was it a pretty straightforward process to clear the fogging?

The rifles they were on fell over a few times, but nothing major (also something that happens a lot on hunts). No difference in wiping the lenses with a paper towel or lens cloth vs other scopes. All scopes had similar issues at times, it's a by product of winter not a scope issue.

Who will be the independent testers of this scope? Obviously it can't be folks associated with Shoot 2 Hunt or Rokslide considering they stand to profit roughly 75k per month on the sales. Just wondering where and how that will be done.

Having met and spent time with some of the people behind this scope, I trust that they value their integrity more than money. Those involved had no qualms discussing other products they had a hand in that did not pan out as well as the prototypes did. In addition, if the timeline holds for the first batch delivery there will be plenty of reviews as hunting season kicks off. I know of one scope that is going to Africa in a few weeks with nothing more than a handshake agreement to give honest feedback.

This industry (& reviews in particular) got where it is now because most testers either don't know what they are looking at/doing or are afraid of giving honest feedback when it's negative because they will be kept out from future product releases. That shit has to stop if we really want good products to make it to market. There is no truth in marketing; from my perspective the truth in products IS the marketing. Something that sucks, sucks. Good items are good items regardless of who brings it to market.

 

[43.6N]

It will be hard for someone on this preorder list to not have any bias with the scope considering how much they likely follow every word of the folks selling it on this site. Hence my question.

What if it fails the drop testing? Minds will crumble.

So would reputations. And the business built on that reputation.

Again. Some of us have seen what we need to be willing to take a chance on this scope.
Others will and should wait until it’s been in the hands of the market for 6-12 months and become a “proven” item.

 

[RockAndSage]

Who will be the independent testers of this scope? Obviously it can't be folks associated with Shoot 2 Hunt or Rokslide considering they stand to profit roughly 75k per month on the sales. Just wondering where and how that will be done.

Like almost everything in the gun world, there simply are not any truly "independent" testers.

Especially those having something approximating valid ASTM testing and standards - they're just not there for the gun industry. At best, you get really tangential tests that can be applied, but don't actually have relevance to gun realities.

Other than some cartridge stuff and ISO manufacturing standards, a few manufacturers have their own attempts at rigorous, scientifically valid tests and evaluation procedures in-house. But beyond that, about as close as you'll get to independent and scientific is exactly what Form does.

 

[brazz04]

I wonder if they'll give one to someone other than form to throw on the ground and test. Will be interesting.

 

[43.6N]

I wonder if they'll give one to someone other than form to throw on the ground and test. Will be interesting.

Whose opinion would you trust?
Or to put it another way, who would you send it to?

A single sample will be exactly that.
The true testing can/will only happen at volume, once it’s in the hand of the market. That’s when the 1/1000 manufacturing defects will come to light. I would trust that data more then any single persons opinion personally.

 

[dreamingWest]

It will be hard for someone on this preorder list to not have any bias with the scope considering how much they likely follow every word of the folks selling it on this site. Hence my question.

What if it fails the drop testing? Minds will crumble.

Haha. No it won't. Sure there are some true disciples here that post quite frequently, but they sold 500 in the preorder. I just like trying new stuff. I will have no issues giving a negative review. I'm sure there a 100 preorders just like me.

 

[RockAndSage]

I wonder if they'll give one to someone other than form to throw on the ground and test. Will be interesting.

Well, I think you figured it all out. This is all a big scam, the people involved are just shills, and we are all just a bunch of suckers in a cult that simply do not have your incisive wisdom. Well done, internet guy. Very well done indeed.

 

[Chris in TN]

I wonder if they'll give one to someone other than form to throw on the ground and test. Will be interesting.

I genuinely believe that ~8 months from now when these go out into the wild, they will be the most harshly tested riflescope(s) in current production.

YMMV.

 

[Jake Larsen]

Haha. No it won't. Sure there are some true disciples here that post quite frequently, but they sold 500 in the preorder. I just like trying new stuff. I will have no issues giving a negative review. I'm sure there a 100 preorders just like me.

+1 for having zero issue giving a negative review this thing doesn’t function properly. Especially considering the promise to replace if you get a dud.

Also because if there’s anything to learn from this go-around, I really want them to learn it. Because I REALLY want them to do a 2-8x version that will function correctly.

 

[brazz04]

Good to hear folks are willing to give it a negative review

 

[MuleyFever]

I ordered one and I will tell you I want to not like it. If I like it I'll have to sell my other scopes. So, I'll have no issues being critical of it.