If you’re getting ready for hunting season, you need to find the best scopes to gives you the highest chance of success. But if you don’t have tons of money to spare, find a high-quality scope can be a challenge. The good news is Vector Optics builds great scopes for a reasonable price. Don’t believe us? Here’s more you need to know about this innovative company.
What Does Vector Optics Do?
For over a decade, Vector Optics built an optics business aimed at producing low-cost but high-quality optics. Our first thought about cheap but good is skepticism. It’s a natural reaction but misplaced in this instance. The manufacturer makes their products with aluminum alloy. They use good quality glass as well. The mechanics, where applicable, are stable and don’t loosen or lose their zero through regular use.
We’ve looked at scopes and other optics in the past that cost more but performed poorly. The most common problem is low-quality glass. The scope gathers light poorly, and everything viewed through the scope is foggy.
The mechanics in cheaper scopes rarely stay tight or secure very long, even riding a few miles in the truck can jar them loose. Cheap scopes come with other issues, but lousy glass and loose mechanics are the most common.
What Makes Vector Optics Standout?
The first thing that jumps out when you look over their website is the warranty. Affordable scope varieties tend to come with very limited warranties. The Vector Optics warranty supports their products for five years. If it fails due to a defect, you get a new one. The warranty is excellent, but the 30-day money-back guarantee adds another layer of confidence.
Most of you probably own or owned an economic scope at some point in time. The glass is crystal clear the first month you own it, but they get foggy or milky over time. They rarely hold zero very well, or they fit loosely on the rail.
Vector Optics come with good, clear glass, and they keep their zero well. Those two things are expected from expensive scopes, but we usually accept that an economy scope won’t perform as well. That’s just not true with Vector Optics; they are made well and made from quality materials.
It’s not exactly a quality that we consider a stand-out feature, but their selection of optics is vast. They have nearly every type of scope and magnification combo. While we mostly focused on scopes or similar optics in this review, there are several products beyond optics available from them, including:
- Laser Sights
- Pistol Sights
- Scope Accessories
- AR and AK Accessories
- Grips and Bi-pods
- Slings
- Cleaning Accessories
Our Favorite Vector Optics Products
Like we mentioned above, with so many optics to choose from, picking favorites proved difficult. We looked for optics that are popular but useful. Red and green dot sights plus reflex sights are among our favorite scopes overall.
They have a wide range of uses from home defense to competition shooting. In the end, we chose optics that are popular. We didn’t list these scopes in order.
Omega Tactical 8 Reticle Red/Green Dot Sight with QD Mount EO Tech
Red and green dot sights improve target acquisition and help with overall grouping. This one built well with good glass and sharp reticles. It comes with eight options for reticles. That is about six more options than most of the red or green dot sights on the market. If you use a dot scope with any reticle other than a classic dot, they are fun, and some improve accuracy.
It uses a CR2032 battery or the rechargeable version of that battery. USB charging is available, but that doesn’t seem like an option many of us care about in the end. You either remove the optic from your gun and charge it, or leave the weapon lying around while it recharges. Both methods of USB charging have drawbacks. Keeping extra CR2032 batteries on hand is the best option in this case.
SCOM-09 Grizzly 3-12×56 E Shooting Rifle Scope
This scope’s name is cool, but that’s the least of the reasons we added it to our favorites list. It sports eleven levels of illumination, and the coated glass is bright. The light transfer with this scope is on the level of scopes that costs four times as much. The glass and light transfer are the main reasons this scope made our favorites list.
It offers more than good glass and illumination. The 4-inch eye relief makes shooting at longer ranges a little more forgiving. The scope is perfect for close and long-range shots. It will perform great at 30 yards or 400 yards making it an excellent scope for hunting.
SCRD-24RL Tomcat 1x22x33 Multi Reticles Red & Green Dot Sight with w/ Red Laser
The Vector Optics has a lightweight frame that won’t add weight to your gun, and it’s surprisingly durable for a sight that weighs almost nothing. It also comes with four different reticles and a red laser mounted on one side. This site is a great accessory for a home defense gun or recreational shooting.
SCRD-27GL Rayman 1×30 Red Dot Sight with Green Laser
This scope is an excellent scope for the price as well. We like this scope for its clarity and lightweight. Another big plus for us is the built-in lens covers open down instead of up. That’s not a trivial feature to anyone that’s broken a lens cover off on a tree or accidentally snagged it when moving the weapon.
RDSL01 VictOptics 1×18 Red Dot Reflex Sight
This great optic is a 3 MOA red dot sight. This site is lightweight. You can barely feel it in your hand. It has the same good glass as the other scopes along with sturdy mechanical parts. It has the option for a mini sight and multiple illumination settings when needed.
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Are They Better than their Competition?
This question is a hard question to answer. Each optics maker is better or worse on a few things when compared to their competitors. Vector Optics puts a lot of effort into quality while keeping their prices low. At their worst, they are about even with their competition. The glass and mechanical parts of any scope are the essential features.
Most optics makers try to use good glass, and they do a fair job of using mechanical parts that work well. Vector Optics is a little above their competition where glass is concerned and about even on mechanical parts. Vector Optics beats the competition on variety and selection. Their scopes also offer more reticle options than most other scopes and hold their zero better.
Our Opinion
We think you should give Vector Optics a try and see what you think.
In short, our opinion is favorable, and we think you should try out one the scopes we mentioned above and find the scope that fits your needs and circumstances. You will be surprised by the vast selection and the low prices. Take a trip to your local gun shop or sporting goods store and ask them about Vector Optics.
Conclusion
We spend a lot of money on gun accessories. If you can get a proper, reliable scope for a low price, then that means more money for ammo. That alone is reason enough to shop economy scopes. They make their scopes to last and perform reliably. We can’t stress enough how important good glass is to optics along with light transfer, and they use good glass.
If you’re like more hunters or recreational shooters, a large part of your budget goes toward renting land, paying dues, travel, and several other expensive side effects of your lifestyle. Using economy scopes helps take some of the weight off your budget. Compared to some Nikon scopes, buying an economy scope saves enough money to fund a nice hunting trip.