Sightron SIIISS 10-50x60 LRIRMOA arrived yesterday next day delivery from Aimfield Sports, great service from their courier who texted and advised that delivery would be within a one hour window, great not to have to sit in all day waiting for something that may or may not arrive.
First impressions are good, no one local had a Sightron that I could use to assess the brand and John advised me that as long as I did not mount it in scope rings I could return it if I was in any way unsatisfied.
The glass, seems at least comparable, probably better than my Docter in brightness and contrast, it's a personal thing and subjective as these things are, for example I have never got on with NightForce always finding them darker than the German equivalents. I'll have to pull out a couple of scopes and try them all side by side.
My own preference is German or Japanese glass and with the magnification that I wanted a Schmidt and Bender was not an option on the basis of cost, similarly with the Nightforce which also carries more weight generally than it's competitors and Swarovski doesn't have the range of adjustment required, the Sightron looked like a fair compromise for my needs, especially at the price.
The Sightron seems to suit my eyes and I like the glass, setting the scope up on the dining table and looking through it at 50 magnification at the shipping in the estuary, details are visible on the vessels that I've previously missed using 24 and 32 power scopes, imaging is good. Scanning along the water I'm seeing light buoys and channel markers on the far side that I have never seen before, interesting.
Swinging the scope through 90degrees and looking down to the crossroads, I can read the stickers on the local shops door, surprising! Probably 500-600yds. Lifting it slightly so aligned above the roofs of the local houses, the ruined castle below the headland at the old Seafield coal pit can be clearly seen. Raising it slightly again a white van can be clearly seen sitting in a field on the headland, another small movement and the house windows of properties on the edge of Kinghorn can be made out with movement inside, probably somewhere between 4 and 5 miles distant.
Eye position seems quite critical, no surprise there at such high magnification, turning down the magnification allowed more room for maneuver with the sight picture coming more easily, the increased field of view would likely be necessary for sniper comps anyway. The image quality on full magnification is better than I anticipated, usually (on cheaper brands) there is enough degradation that the user would settle for using a lower power but not in this instance.
Swinging the scope back cross the estuary and looking at the far shore the individual cottages can be made out and looking to the fields to the rear of them straw bales can be seen, initially thought these were of the round variety but on second look they appear to be square bale stacks, individual bales cannot be made out.
So far so good, been using it now solid for half an hour or more and no signs of eyestrain or discomfort. I'm liking the MOA reticule and the illuminated dot which illuminates nicely at setting six and above, below six it doesn't seem to illuminate much, if at all, much like the IOR. Not really much of a fan of illuminated dots but it's no disadvantage.
Curious as to how far the cottages are on the far shore I pull out a chart and do a bit of measuring, distance comes out to between 13 and 13.5 miles!!!
So maybe 14 miles to the straw bale piles, no surprise then that I cannot make out individual bales in the stack!
I'm liking this Sightron, enough anyway that I'll be sticking some rings on it and giving it a go on various ranges. I've no doubt it will be more than adequate for my 200, 300, 500, 1000, 1200 and 2400yd shoots, if it goes well I'll maybe pop for another in 32 power for the shorter stuff.