I don't know if this will be of interest to anyone or not, but maybe it will. I spent some time this year with a few scopes and thought I'd give my input on them. I compare them to each other on a few things, but it really isn't fair since in several aspects it's apples to oranges....but maybe it will be helpful.
The 3 scopes are:
Leupold VXIII 1.5-5x20, matte, duplex
Nikon Monarch 4x40, matte, Nikoplex
Nikon Monarch Gold 1.5-6x42, matte, Nikoplex
Clarity, sharpness:
When I first decided to compare them the first thing I did was look through them on a clear day. I was very impressed with the 2 Nikons. They are so sharp and so clear. I guess it has to do with some of the technologies that Nikon has used for cameras. I was a little disappointed when I compared them to the VXIII. The color was not as sharp in it, just a little duller, still sharp, but not like the Nikons. It’s not something that would really matter in the field, the Nikons were just more vivid. No noticable difference between the Nikons.
Brightness..dusk:
The next thing I did was try the same thing at dusk. I took the 3 of them to my back yard, set up a table, and picked out a broken branch on an old oak tree about 90-100 yards away. This was looking across a field, at the tree on the edge of a woodline. The background was thick woods. I was facing northeast, so the sun setting in the west wasn't in the picture. I did this from sunset until after dark.
They were all excellent. I did this set at only the 4 power since I could do it common to all of them. Keep in mind that this is a 10.5 exit pupil with the Gold, 10 mm exit pupil with the Monarch, and only a 5 mm exit pupil with the VXIII. I was really a little worried that the VX would be at a big disadvantage. It wasn't. I'm assuming that the duller look it had in bright sunlight is due to the coatings Leupold uses. At any rate, it performed great for a 20mm scope. I could make out the broken branch with the Gold for slightly longer than I could with the 4x or the Leupold. Perhaps just a little longer with the 4x than the Leupold, but not enough to matter. At any rate, all three of them would have allowed me to watch a deer for far longer then I could have found it in the cross hairs. They all seemed great here. Crosshairs were the limiting factor. The Gold is the leader here, but I was very impressed with the VXIII for a 20 mm objective!
Size and weight:
Leupold has this one hands down. It's the reason I got it. It is very compact and lightweight. The Gold is a 30mm tube and was heavy. It felt like you could use it to drive nails, but was very well balanced and solid. The 4x was solid and mid weight.
FOV:
Leupold has a slight advantage over the Gold but not enough to notice. The 4x was out of this one with the fixed power.
Eye relief:
The Gold and VXIII were awesome here. So much so that I had to mount the Gold far forward. The same with the Leupold but it varied with power changes. The Gold seemed to be almost the same across the power range. The 3.5 for the 4x is plenty for me and I really prefer the 3.5 but that is a personal opinion. When shooting I never had a problems with any of them and recoil.
I didn't do any repeatablity tests. I can say that when I mounted and sighted them in, they moved exactly as I expected with the clicks. I really like the Gold in that once the zero is set, it can be reset to align to zero. Very nice. The Gold and 4x were in Warne quick detach rings, the Leupold in Leupold quick detach rings.
Here's the specs:
Leupold: 9.7 oz., 9.4 inches, Eye relief 4.4-3.6, FOV 65.7-23.7
Gold: 17.3 oz., 11.4 inches, Eye relief 4.1-4, FOV 64.7-17.3
Monarch: 11.6 oz., 11.6 inches, Eye relief 3.5, FOV 26.9
Monarch Gold:
Strong points: Clear, sharp, FOV, Eye relief, very solid 30mm tube, very bright in low light, resettable zero
Weak points: HEAVY...30mm tube
Leupold VXIII:
Strong points: Light, compact, Eye relief, FOV, great low light for 20mm
Weak points: Not as sharp colorwise as the Nikons, smaller exit pupil
Monarch 4x:
Strong points: Clear, sharp, simple, easy to mount, constant 10mm exit pupil
Weak points: Some may consider being a fixed power a weak point
I recommend all of these scopes without reservation. I liked them all. I just put the VXIII and the Monarch 4x in the classifieds because the barrels are going and I didn't use them enough hunting (one of the reasons the barrels are going). I'm keeping the Gold because it's the only one I hunted with enough to really justify.
If you've got any questions, thoughts, or suggestions, please post them here because I'd like to hear them. Thanks for reading my ramblings,
JCM
