S&B or Zeiss?

Erk

As the title says.. I don't know which one to go for? Be used mostly for lamping and which one is better in the twilight? Going on a .308 too. Any help would be great. Oh ya its the Zeiss Duralyt 3-12x50 or S&B 4-16x50.

De_Tomaso

Go with S&B Klassik, it is a much better scope than Duralyt and can be compared with Zeiss Classic series.

Erk

De_Tomaso wrote: »

Go with S&B Klassik, it is a much better scope than Duralyt and can be compared with Zeiss Classic series.

Only thing is Zeiss is much cheaper and i read the quality of the glass is the same. Thanks for the help tho

Hibrion

I'm trying to decide between these too also. I've been using S&B for years and found them great, the only downside is the price.

Erk

I agree Hibrion.

landkeeper

s&b for me if you want a lamping twilight scope it won't be beaten it's what it was designed for in the 1st place

It wasn't me!

Never looked through a Zeiss Duralyt in low light. Glass is great in daylight conditions though. That said, I reckon you're not going to get Zeiss's best in their cheapest lineup and you're looking at high-end S&B against that. I have the S&B Klassik and it's excellent. Heavy, but the glass is phenomenal.

De_Tomaso

Erk wrote: »

Only thing is Zeiss is much cheaper and i read the quality of the glass is the same. Thanks for the help tho

The quality of glass is not on the same level SB is better! (Zeiss Duralyt vs SB Klassik)

Hibrion

I'm not so worried about weight for my new 30-06, as I already have a light weight brush gun. I don't want it to be as heavy as a varmint rifle, but will sacrifice a few ounces for better glass.

Erk

Thanks for all the help

Constab2

Go with the S&B ,the glass is simply outstanding in the low light.Have used both the S&B wins hands down,albeit on the heavy side especially the Illum Version you will not go wrong with it.

ormondprop

Go with the schmidt, i had a 4-16 model nd stupidly traded it, was a great scope and great glass, wen i get back to work i plan on buying another, built a lot stronger than the duralyt serious

4200fps

Buy a Swarovski and you wont have to complain. They design their optics to allow the most light in. I don't think there's any sight out there that will out perform this one http://youtu.be/gSNOx21eiU0

It wasn't me!

Considering that's not even Swarovski's top of the line, I reckon more research is required...

4200fps

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Considering that's not even Swarovski's top of the line, I reckon more research is required...

Which one would be? That one is designed to allow alot of light in giving the hunter a 30min earlier stock in the morning and a 30min later stock in the evening. On my swarovski if its bright i do often have to place my hand over the sun cap to reduce the amount of light that comes in the sight. They are top class in low light imo

It wasn't me!

4200fps wrote: »

Which one would be? That one is designed to allow alot of light in giving the hunter a 30min earlier stock in the morning and a 30min later stock in the evening. On my swarovski if its bright i do often have to place my hand over the sun cap to reduce the amount of light that comes in the sight. They are top class in low light imo

Their z6 range is the flagship one. z4 is the budget variety. And all of the top end companies offer that sort of stuff. Also, you're shading against glare, not its awesome light transmission capabilities. They're great scopes, but all of the top-end ones are. one thing I like about Swarovski is that they're light, compared with some others. Particularly their older models. There's an AV 3-10x42 in my future which weighs in about 12.5oz, as against the 27oz of my S&B. That's a pound of a saving in a stalking rifle.

4200fps

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Their z6 range is the flagship one. z4 is the budget variety. And all of the top end companies offer that sort of stuff. Also, you're shading against glare, not its awesome light transmission capabilities. They're great scopes, but all of the top-end ones are. one thing I like about Swarovski is that they're light, compared with some others. Particularly their older models. There's an AV 3-10x42 in my future which weighs in about 12.5oz, as against the 27oz of my S&B. That's a pound of a saving in a stalking rifle.

A pound is a fair difference in weight. How come this thread isnt on hunting page?

De_Tomaso

Lets be fair. Swarovski scopes are great hunting scopes and made for hunting only!

The fact is also that Z4i is far better for low light than Z6i since it has better light transmission rate (94% vs 90%). Because Z6 are SFP scopes and their reticles are really thin it is also true that you need illuminated model for low light use. Non-illuminated models Z6 are almost useless in low light situations.


The fact is also that Zeiss and SB offer better scopes for low light use. The first thing is that Zeiss Victory scopes have even better light transmission rates as Z4i scopes and the have the reticle in FFP which is better for low light than SFP in Swarovski scopes. The illuminated dots in SB and Zeiss Varipoint are also superior to illuminated dots in Z4i and Z6i. I personally think that SB FlashDot is the best illumination on the market at the moment.

As a whole the Z6i are probably the most versatile hunting scopes in the world (only Leica Magnus can come close), but they still have some weak points.