Hi guys,

I’m still dithering over which scope to get for my HW100KT as an upgrade to the Hawke Sport HD 4-12x50 IR that came with it (I bought a package second hand)

I had narrowed it down to either the Falcon M18+ 4-18x44 or Hawke Airmax 30 SF 6-24x50 AMX IR but this was only based on reviews and sadly not through having handled either.

Anyway, I took the plunge and bought (online) a new Airmax 30 SF 6-24x50 AMX IR mainly because I’d already got a Hawke so assumed being 3 x the price it could only be better. Now my old eyes are perhaps to blame as much as anything but the scope duly arrived and I was really underwhelmed to say the least and although ‘better’ than my existing Hawke HD....it wasn’t 3 times better. So, I plan to return this for a refund and continue the search.

I was out and about yesterday and called into a local (small) RFD who had a small selection of scopes around the £150 mark so I had a look through a few and was quite surprised by the Nikko Panamax range....they were noticeably brighter and clearer than the £300 Hawke Airmax with a great field of view unlike the Airmax which felt like looking down a tunnel to my eyes.

So this got me rethinking.....what are your thoughts on the Panamax range....I’m really close to ordering one of these but I would ideally like SF.....so then I’m looking at the Targetmaster range...so if the Targetmaster is like the Panamax but with side focus it should be perfect.

Has anyone got experience of both the Panamax and Targetmaster.....if so I’d really appreciate your views on how they compare?

Thanks very much in advance