Ordered this scope on Saturday night directly from Deben as I dont believe they are in the shops yet. It arrived this morning so well done Deben on that front.
Having read the specifications regarding this new range from Hawke, it certainly looks like the range has been designed with Airgunners in mind. I have been looking for a reasonably light 25mm scope to sit atop my Rapid MFR primarily for field use, and this one sounded like it might fit the bill.
Anyway, on unpacking the scope, I was pleased to find a couple of rubber flip up lens protectors provided and decided to weigh the beast immediately. She came in at 1lb 3oz so will not overload the very pointable Rapid in any way. Slotting the optic into the standard 25mm Theoben mounts, I was pleased to note that despite the inclusion of an adjustable objective, there was a good clearance above the barrel shroud, even with the lens cover fitted.
Next job was to set the fast focus ring for my apparently failing eyesight in the fading afternoon light. Once that was sorted I was intrigued to see if the "Extended View" facility actually made any noticeable difference to the sight picture. Hawke claim an additional 20%, but to me, I couldn't honestly notice any apparent difference in field of view. What I did notice however was the amazingly sharp image and optical clarity of the lenses, with a genuinely bright pin sharp image from edge to edge and good colour saturation. Next it was the turn of the blue/red half mill dot illuminated reticle to be given the once over. I have always considered the Hawke half-mil reticle to be an excellent choice for both HFTers and hunters like myself, and I was not disappointed with the genuinely useful ability of the scopes "MAP 6A" reticle to change from the more day focussed blue( looks particularly good) to the red I would use for evening shooting/lamping sessions.
The low profile turret "finger tip"adjusters live safely under the cover of the usual screw caps, and it will be my intention to check upon any zero shift when adjusting the mag at my clubs indoor range tomorrow evening.
It will be my intention to add to this review when I have had a chance to give the scope a thorough thrashing in the field, at HFT and of course the indoor range.
My initial impressions are that the scope represents somewhat of a bargain for anybody looking for a scope suitable of doing most things, apart from range finding as our colleagues in FT do with their "torpedo-tube esqe" optics. To say I am impressed at this stage would be an understatement.
On my usual HFT rig lives a Bushnell 6500 and very nice it is too. Considering that it cost nearly three times what this Chinese produced Hawke has on offer reminds me of just how far the Chinese have come in the production of relatively low priced high quality optics. OK, its not a Zeiss or a S&B, but for the money it represents outstanding value for money in my opinion and is well worth checking out for yourselves.
I will of course add to this review as and when I discover the optics good and possibly bad points, although at this early stage I think I might be struggling to find any bad ones!
Highly recommended.
Andy
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