Kahles and S&B 1.5-6 quick observations

[ccoker]

Got both in...
a few quick observations

both are in the 1.5-6x42 with a circle / dot in the center of the crosshairs reticle and illuminated

The S&B is a slightly better image to my eyes
The S&B is heavier in the hand and just has the "I could beat the crap out of this" feel to it

I think I prefer the simple illuminated dot reticle of the S&B as I feel the circle and dot being lit up on the Kahles can be a bit much for my eyes at in very low light and obscure the exact point of aim.

The S&B is more like a German # 4 in that the bottom vertical and horizontal lines are thick and bold with the center getting thin and the circle being bold. What's cool is that when the illumination is off the center crosshair looks normal, i.e., thin and great for precision work.
When you activate the reticle the center just glows red like a red dot is superimposed over it.
Very clean and well executed.

The Kahles has the center dot being bigger at all times, turned off or on.
I think that perhaps the Kahles may be a tad quicker at close range but the S&B would be better for precision shots in extremely low light.

Both can be turned up daytime bright (have not had them in direct Arizona desert sun conditions)
Both can be turned down to be almost invisible
They both have the illumination levels done right

The Kahles has a cool feature wherein the reticle will turn itself off in certain positions, i.e., pointing straight up or straight down or laying on it's side, move the gun a tad and it comes back on instantly. Pretty cool on a hunting rifle to conserve the battery, wouldn't want for a combat optic of course.

These observations are just made using outside and around my house, not mounted on a gun yet and taken out in the field. I am pretty good at doing the optics testing in low light and feel my observations won't change once I take them out hunting in a few weeks.

In all honesty, if someone told me "Merry Christmas, which one do you want?" right now, I would probably have to say the S&B, and I am a Khales fan, and love my CL 3-10x50

In fact, I want to do a low light test against it and some range time and hunting use.

That's all for now.

[Cold]

Thanks for the review, when you can post some photos of each mounted on a rifle!

Keep up the good work.

[ccoker]

I will some pics

I checked again this morning right at daybreak
There's a field behind our house and still the same impression
The S&B just has a "bigger" image

[kauaihunter]

Are these scopes real close in price?

[ccoker]

yep, 23-2400 MSRP

ouch

frankly, I tested my 3-9 Accupoint with the green mildot reticle and when looking at night at trees at 75-100 yards away, and all 3 set at 6X, all 3 could have placed a bullet where it needed to go. This was looking into trees with no light and barely able to see the trees with my naked eye and I was trying to put the dot on a given small branch.


In short, the S&B and Khales are better glass and more "wow" factor (nod to the S&B) but the Trijicon absolutely held it's own.
Yes, the others are better optically, but they aren't 3X better

Definitely getting into the law of diminishing returns wherein you pay a LOT more for a little improvement.

We are talking about pure optical performance, being able to see in very low light and being able to place the crosshairs where they need to for hunting purposes. Yes, there are differences in the over all specs, magnification, reticle, etc..


I still stand by my statement that the Accupoint 3-9x40 green dot is the "best" overall hunting scope when you factor in price vs performance, it flat out works, no batteries, is cheaper, always on, and much lighter to boot.

Long term reliability?
Only time will tell that of course..

Need to run a box test on all 3 for turret repeatability

More later

[ccoker]

I am going to mount, sight in and use the S&B for hunting for a while on the 6.8

[Dude-Sweet]

Good to know that the Trijicons can at least stand in the same arena as these other big boys. In all honesty I will likely never fork out the coin for an S&B or Khales. Those are just out of my budget. Joy will be the day when Trijicon steps up and makes a 1-6 or 1-8. I do envy you a bit getting to play with all these really cool toys though =)

thanks for sharing with us.

[ccoker]

it is probably, other than cost and the fact it is heavy, probably the best scope out there for a 6.8

If I can figure out a holding point in the reticle for 400 yard hold I would be really stoked

i have been bugging the Trijicon marketing guy about more offerings, like a 1-6, 1.5-6, etc..
there is some new stuff coming out at SHOT show in Jan, gurantee I will be at the Trijicon booth!!!

[Dude-Sweet]

Cool.

I guarantee I will be waiting for you to post up the good info after the show =)

[constructor]

So what about all of these 1x something scopes, Adam has me looking at the things but, I have a hard time dropping twice the money for a scope of half the power of my $1600 8-22x Nightforce with Illuminated retical. I know mines not tactikooool but the little Burris 2-7x short mag works fine during the day and the PVS14 fits right behind it for night work.
I go back and forth on what I think the best setup is and at the moment for hogging I am leaning toward a helmet mounted PVS with a MARs red dot with IR and red lasers on the rifle.
We hit 8" steels at 325 yds with EO techs so I think the 1 MOA Mars dot will work just fine at the distance I shoot hogs. I just want something with a wide FOV on my short rifle and I'll keep my high power scopes on my long range rigs. If I was able to hunt as much as Chris I would have a weapon mounted thermal without a doubt, I guess working 7 days a week isn't always a bad thing.
So are these scope that much better than a 4x Acog???