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Best Budget 1-10 LPVOs - If That is Even Possible
Updated
5 months ago
Good morning, everyone, this is John with gun.deals, today we're going to betaking a look at the best budget 1-10 LPVOs. That might sound like a contradiction in terms, and in some ways it is, but I'm going to go ahead and give you the best 1-10s that you can find, or at least the ones that I've tried, for under $1,000. For some of you that is definitely not a budget scope, but in the grand scheme of things for 1-10s sub-$1,000 is on the cheaper side of things.
Full disclosure on all of these scopes is that I didn't pay for any of them, at one point in time all of the manufacturers reached out to me to send me different product over the last 2 years or so, so I don't really care which one wins, I didn't pay for any of them, I do have affiliates for I think all of them, so whichever one wins that's fine with me.
We're going to go ahead and start at the bottom of the list and work our way to the top, however, just as a note, the top optic on the list is the one that you saw in the intro, which is a new 1-10x28 first focal plane optic that basically copies the Eotech for about half the price.
Getting into what is number 5 on this list is the Vector Constantine 1-10x24. The Constantine line from Vector Optics is a completely Chinese made optic, Chinese body, Chinese glass, it is their budget side of LPVOs. This one here is a second focal plane version in the 1-10 magnification range with a 30mm main tube and 24mm objective. Very quickly going over the basics, we have an optic that is 11 inches long, 18.6 ounces in weight, has a field of view of 114 feet at 100 yards at 1X, which is actually quite good. We have about 3.5 inches of eye relief throughout the magnification range. In terms of the body it is a 6061 aluminum one piece body, other than that on the body it does come with a throw lever on the magnification ring, and you have a rear diopter for adjusting the reticle to your eyes.
Getting into the reticle itself, it is a second focal plane reticle, meaning that it does not change as you increase or decrease in magnification, it is constant throughout the entire range. It is a BDC style reticle with a center floating dot with some cutout sections around it to kind of draw your eye to the center, so it is a very good reticle to use at 1X. If I haven't mentioned it already, the eye relief and eye box are definitely in the decent category at 1X, and the reticle works very well at 1X as well.
The main downside of this optic is that it has cheap glass and at the 10x setting it is very, very unforgiving. It has a very tight eye box and eye relief, meaning that it is very difficult to get behind the optic and to get a clear view if you're not in a optimal position, which makes it less usable at the top end, and if it's harder to use at the top end then you're probably better off with something like a 1-6 or a 1-8. that's more usable at those higher magnifications.
There are some good things about the optic, like I mentioned, the reticle works really good at 1X, the 1X performance itself is not terrible, good field of view, it's not too heavy, at only 18.6 ounces, but at the end of the day the cheap glass and the poor usabilityat the high end plus the fact that it’s second focal plane, which is going to turn a lot of people off for that 1-10 option to begin with, means that it definitely deserves to be at the bottom of the list, not necessarily bad by any means, but definitely not going to compete with some of the top options.
Moving up the list to number 4 we have the Athlon Optics Helos BTR Gen 2 1-10x28. By 28 means that this has a 34mm main tube, which is bigger, which will allow more light but will also give you a more forgiving exit pupil, meaning that the optic should be more forgiving at that top end magnification with that slightly wider exit pupil, meaning that it's a little bit easier to get behind.
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The size and weight are pretty good coming in right at about 11 inches long, 18.3 ounces, so it's very good in the size and weight category. The windage and elevation are capped and in I believe quarter MOA increments, which is perfectly fine, and it does have an illuminated reticle magnification ring that has a 180° throw and a rear diopterfor adjusting the reticle to your eyes. Field of view is rated at 110 feet at 100 yards at 1X, which is very good. Eye relief is about 3.5 to 4 in and it's going to tighten up a little bit on the top end, and the eye box is also fairly good at 1X and fairly tight at 10X.
Certainly not as bad as either of the 30mm main tube options on this list, but it is going to be still tight, though again what I would consider to be usable. This is a Chinese optic with Chinese glass, however, Athlon is doing something a little bit different on the inside with their coatings or their geometry because the glass quality itself does look better than quite a few other Chinese scopes on the market, and is definitely what I would consider to be decent.
With that decent glass, good field of view, 34mm main tube, good reticle, which we'll talk about in just a minute, and the decent usability that the scope has, this is something that I've used quite a bit, I've actually had two of these, I've used it from anywhere from 0 to 700 yards and it has worked very well. The two things holding it back are that it is a second focal plane reticle, which is basically a BDC, which is calibrated for 55 or 62 grain 5.56 and I have actually used the BDC out to 700 yards, and it did work quite well on my 16-inch FN gun, but the fact that it is a second focal plane reticle is going to diminish its usability between settings 2 and 9. The other drawback of the scope is that it broke twice during just a shoulder height drop onto dirt and rocks, it broke both times, it never made it to the AR500 steel plate like some other optics on this list have. So, while I like using the scope, it has decent glass, good size and weight, good reticle, and comes in at under $500 usually for a 1-10 LPVO, I like it quite a bit, but it's just not something I can recommend everyone.
Moving up the list to number 3 we have the Riton 5 Tactix 1-10x24, and these guys really got to start renaming their optics. The Riton 1-10 should probably be the best optic on this list because it does have the highest MSRP of $959, however, due to a few odd choices here or there it's knocked down to middle of the pack. The first odd choice on this optic is that it is justa 30mm main tube instead of the larger 34mm main tube, which gives you about a 20% more forgiving exit pupil so it is going to be a little bit harder to use at 10X. This is a first focal plane option with a very, very good mil-grid reticle so you basically have a 1X1 mil-grid out to I believe 10 or 12 mils within the reticle itself and it is first focal plane so no matter what magnification you happen to be at, the reticle is going to be on no matter what.
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Unfortunately, when we get into things like size and weight and field of view this is where the optic really kind of falls behind. The weight comes in at 26 ounces, which is very heavy for an LPVO, it's on the heavier side of things for sure, length is a little bit over 11 inches, so it's a little bit long as well. Field of view is at 105.8 at 1X at 100 yards, which is not great, it's good but it's not great, and on top of that, even for $1,000, it's just a Chinese optic with Chinese glass, so while the glass quality is good, the 1X performance is fine, it's really nothing special and when you're dropping $1,000 on a scope you're probably hoping for a little bit better glass quality.
The optic does have capped windage and elevation, illuminated reticle with an offsetting in between and a magnification ring witha 210° throw, so it's quite a long throw on the magnification ring, but to make up for that it does have a included throw lever that you can actually put to a couple different spots, even if that second position doesn't really make much sense. So, really the problem with the scope isn't that it's bad it's that it's more expensive for the ‘budget’ 1-10 genre, it's very long, it's very heavy and for that increased price you're not really getting much increased performance, really all you're getting is the very good, very, very good first focal plane reticle.
Moving up to number 2 on the list, and this is actually my number one pick if you're looking for something under $500, and in fact right now it's on a crazy sub $400 sale at Primary Arms because this is the Primary Arms SLX 1-10x28 and specifically the Griffin M10s reticle version, which is a mil-grid Christmas tree style reticle with all of the possible ranging features you could ever want due to that ACSS reticle.
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Getting into the basics of the scope, which are quite good, this is a 34mm main tube, 28mm objective, you have a body coming in at 19.1 ounces, which is very good, and a length of 10.5 inches, so we're very good for size and weight with that bigger body. Field of view is rated at 110 feet at 1X at 100 yards, which is in the very good category, it's not as good as some of the other optics and definitely nowhere near the number 1 pick, but it is very good, especially for sub $400.
There's only one drawback to this optic and that is the fact that it is second focal plane. The reticle is fantastic, but it's only going to be true at that 10X magnification. 1X is good, the field of view is good, eye relief is rated at about 3.5 to 4 on the low end, and it is quite good at the low end, and on Max magnification, eye box, eye relief is tight, but still usable. Having a tight eye relief, eye box at 10X on a 1-10 LPVO is just part for the course and this is going to be better than a lot of the 30mm main tubes because this one here is using that 34mm main tube.
Really, the only downside to this optic is that it has Chinese glass and a second focal plane reticle, if they made a better version of this optic with a first focal plane reticle I think it would sell very well, and no, I don't mean their new GLX 1-10, which came out with a different body a 30mm main tube and it's somehow heavier. I just want this scope with a first focal plane reticle, I don't know what that GLX is about, not really interested in that one, but right now if you had 400 bucks or less to spend and you needed that 1-10X magnification range, and you could livewith a second focal plane reticle, the Primary Arms SLX 1-10 would be my pick for the best overall, but at sub-$1,000 it's not the best.
The best is the Vector Continental 1-10x28. We started off this list with the Constantine, which is Chinese body, Chinese glass, however, the Continental line is a Chinese body with German glass, coming in at $900, which is certainly expensive when compared with some of the other options on this list. However, this is the only one with upgraded glass and a first focal plane reticle and a 34mm main tube, this basically has all of the features you could ever want for less than $1,000. Going over the basics on the Vector 1-10, this is 34mm main tube, 28mm objective, you have a weight coming in at a little bit heavy at 23 ounces, which is not the heaviest on the list, but it is definitely one of the heavier options. The body is coming in at under 11 inches at 10.9. The field of view is rated at a massive 123 feet at 100 yards at 1X, which is the biggest on this list and the biggest on most lists, that is a fantastic field of view. Eye relief is rated at about 3.5 to 4 inches at 1X and down to 3.66, which is oddly specific at 10X magnification.
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Like all 1-10 LPVOs it is certainly going to be tighter at the top end, however, this is going to be more forgiving than most, even if that is somewhat subjective. The main benefit of the Continental, beside from the reticle anda bunch of other stuff that we'll talk about in just a minute, is the fact that it is using German glass. So, while all of the other options suffer from not extreme optical degradation at 10X magnification, but let's say a noticeable amount of optical degradation at 10X, the Vector Continental looks much better throughout the entire magnification range, and with that massive field of view you get more information, with that better glass you're getting higher quality information as well. Using this in a wide variety of lighting conditions it looks excellent, not necessarily the best on the market, but it looks very, very good and much better than every other optic on this list.
The body of the optic is 6061 T6 aluminum, very standard, however, all of the adjustments, both externally and internally, are 7075, which has about double the strength to weight ratio. The turrets are exposed, however, they are locking turrets, they are 10 mils per rotation and on the elevation you not only have a zero stop, zero reset, but it will also tell you what rotation you're at in the elevation via this little knob that pops up once you get past one full rotation.
Getting into the two retical options that they give you, you have the VET-CTR, which is basically your standard mil-grid Christmas tree, which is very good, it's a 1x1 mil-grid out to about 12 mils, perfect for anything inside of 1,000 yards really, your floating dot in the center with the illuminated outer section. The one that I went with is called the VET-RAR. On the RAR they basically stole or a nicer way to put it is copy and paste the Eotech’s design. Basically at 1X you have a donut of death floating around the outside of your reticle, in the center you have your illuminated floating dot and your mil drops. As you increase through the magnification range that outer donut of death or whatever you want to call it disappears leaving you with your precise floating dot and your mil drops.
They are missing the wind, however, I did take this optic out to 600 yards and I could certainly take it further, but I would much rather have it usable at 1X if They slight sacrifice at 10X at extended distances because I think the main point of an LPVO is to be used throughout the entire engagement range of anywhere from in this case 0 to about 800 yards. The Continental, 900 bucks, which is more expensive than the other optics on this list does everything you want it to do, it has a great versatile reticle that is first focal plane, German glass, exposed but locking turrets with all the features, illuminated reticle, really good eye box/eye relief, field of view is fantastic. The only thing it's kind of not great is the fact that it is a little bit heavier, coming in at 23 ounces, which is heavier than some of the other optics on this list, but for the additional features, for the additional capabilities, it's a trade-off that I am personally happy with.
Also keep in mind that this is the scope that I've had the least amount of time with as it's the one I got the most recent, so if there is an issue of something pops up I will certainly note that in its solo review, which will be posted at some point in the future. But as of right now, there is my list for the best sub $1,000 1-10 LPVOs.
