Good value for used Swarovski?

[Backcountrydraft]

Hi everyone

I got a lead on a used Swarovski Z8i 3.5-28x50 and wanted to get some feedback if this is a good deal.

The guy’s asking for $3000, and it would come with one of those Ballistic Turret Flex things. Scope was manufacture in 2019.

There’s some cosmetic issues. The housing is scratched and the ocular lens has a few very small scratches that don’t affect anything.

I’m new to the world of high-end optics and wanted to get some opinions.

Thanks!

 

[SomeJackassOnAForum]

That's about $4300 worth of scope new, so that's 30% off

 

[SDHNTR]

It’s a decent price if you must have that optic, but you could do A LOT better for a lot less! Swaro makes excellent spotting scopes and binoculars, but there are far better choices in rifle scopes.

 

[Backcountrydraft]

It’s a decent price if you must have that optic, but you could do A LOT better for a lot less! Swaro makes excellent spotting scopes and binoculars, but there are far better choices in rifle scopes.

What would you recommend?

I’m coming from the world of irons and Vortex Diamondbacks so damn near everything is an upgrade haha

 

[SDHNTR]

You seem to have a sizeable budget so I’d look at a Nightforce ATACR. Of course an NXS will surely do the job too.

 

[Hippie Steve]

Hi everyone

I got a lead on a used Swarovski Z8i 3.5-28x50 and wanted to get some feedback if this is a good deal.

The guy’s asking for $3000, and it would come with one of those Ballistic Turret Flex things. Scope was manufacture in 2019.

There’s some cosmetic issues. The housing is scratched and the ocular lens has a few very small scratches that don’t affect anything.

I’m new to the world of high-end optics and wanted to get some opinions.

Thanks!

You can get one new on Amazon for $3,949.00. So $949 off his asking price. It's whatever you value.

 

[Backcountrydraft]

To me, it sounds like Swarovski is just as good used as they are new?

 

[SDHNTR]

To me, it sounds like Swarovski is just as good used as they are new?

If you value durability and proper function, they aren’t good either way!

 

[Jack_Attack]

You can get one new on Amazon for $3,949.00. So $949 off his asking price. It's whatever you value.

Plus it's a used... You have no semblance of how the optic was treated. In my opinion, better to buy new on Amazon and pay the difference. Plus, Warranty goes a long way too. I second this post....

 

[Vaultman]

You seem to have a sizeable budget so I’d look at a Nightforce ATACR. Of course an NXS will surely do the job too.

I would second this. I had an ATACR that I bought used. Sold it and somewhat regret it now. (Had a 4-16 and was going to go up to 5-25, but time passed and never did).
I've never owned swaro scope, but I have their spotter. They are great glass... and I have not done a comparison with an ATACR, but I bet someone has reviewed them side by side. (Maybe even here on the Rok.)

 

[RockAndSage]

I'd like to hear a little more evidence from people bagging on a Swaro scope here - I get it if it's a personal preference thing, or if you personally ended up with a lemon or something, but to say they aren't durable or don't work is about like criticizing an F-22. They're held in extremely high regard, and will usually be a top first or second choice for someone, except for those coming out of the tactical/tacti-cool community, who want all the magnifications and all the christmas-tree reticles, and damn the optic if it isn't night vision compatible.

You might find a few lines or models of scopes that are as good as a swaro Z8i, but you're just not going to find one that's better, broadly speaking. If cost isn't an issue, most of the deciding factors for people seem to be a very feature-specific preference.

Between glass, functionality, durability, low-light coatings, weight to magnification, etc, with all factors combined, across all of them averaged out, I'm just not aware of a better scope for actual hunting use than the Z8i series, especially if the owner isn't experienced in long-range precision shooting and doesn't need special reticles, or turrets they adjust thousands of times.

I've gone with Z8is for a number of my practical-use hunting guns over Schmidts, Marches, Tangent Thetas, Zeiss, Leupold, and others - those are premium scopes from killer companies, and for the most part are equal to the Z8s and may exceed them in one or two categories of measure. And for the most part, I can find a number in each company's lineup I'd be happy to have on one of my hunting guns. But on the whole, for my hunting guns, I keep going back to Swaros because nothing offers a better fit across the board for the practical realities of carrying a gun long distance, putting game on the ground fast, in any legal shooting light, and in any lighting conditions.

OP, the scope you've got on offer, and the price, are outstanding. The flex turrets are also excellent for the practical realities of hunting, especially for someone who isn't running a PRS gun. Do you need that quality of scope to hunt? No, absolutely not. It's largely luxury, where performance really only excells at the margins of extreme conditions, like getting 5 more minutes of usability at the end of legal shooting light, or mitigating glare. Do you need that much high-end magnification for hunting? No. Mostly, you max out at around 16x-18x for practical usefulness with FOV and recoil. And frankly, if I had to choose between a $500 scope and a $3000 pair of binos, or a $3000 scope and a $500 pair of binos, I'd go with the premium binos every time, at least for the Western big game hunting I do, as I'll spend literally 100x the time behind binos that I do behind my rifle scope.

But your scope absolutely is a world-class hunting optic that will last a lifetime. And once you spend some time behind it, you'll never want to go with a lower quality scope again.

EDIT: My only concern with what you've mentioned are the scratches on the ocular lens. This would cause me to hesitate doing the deal if it was online only. If you've seen the scope in person and have personally verified the scratches are both minor and not a problem, then it's a great deal. The exterior scratches are cosmetic and wouldn't be a concern, unless they looked more like dings indicative of the scope having taken a fall or a hit.

 

[Axlrod]

I'd like to hear a little more evidence from people bagging on a Swaro scope here - I get it if it's a personal preference thing, or if you personally ended up with a lemon or something, but to say they aren't durable or don't work is about like criticizing an F-22. They're held in extremely high regard, and will usually be a top first or second choice for someone, except for those coming out of the tactical/tacti-cool community, who want all the magnifications and all the christmas-tree reticles, and damn the optic if it isn't night vision compatible.

You might find a few lines or models of scopes that are as good as a swaro Z8i, but you're just not going to find one that's better, broadly speaking. If cost isn't an issue, most of the deciding factors for people seem to be a very feature-specific preference.

Between glass, functionality, durability, low-light coatings, weight to magnification, etc, with all factors combined, across all of them averaged out, I'm just not aware of a better scope for actual hunting use than the Z8i series, especially if the owner isn't experienced in long-range precision shooting and doesn't need special reticles, or turrets they adjust thousands of times.

I've gone with Z8is for a number of my practical-use hunting guns over Schmidts, Marches, Tangent Thetas, Zeiss, Leupold, and others - those are premium scopes from killer companies, and for the most part are equal to the Z8s and may exceed them in one or two categories of measure. And for the most part, I can find a number in each company's lineup I'd be happy to have on one of my hunting guns. But on the whole, for my hunting guns, I keep going back to Swaros because nothing offers a better fit across the board for the practical realities of carrying a gun long distance, putting game on the ground fast, in any legal shooting light, and in any lighting conditions.

OP, the scope you've got on offer, and the price, are outstanding. The flex turrets are also excellent for the practical realities of hunting, especially for someone who isn't running a PRS gun. Do you need that quality of scope to hunt? No, absolutely not. It's largely luxury, where performance really only excells at the margins of extreme conditions, like getting 5 more minutes of usability at the end of legal shooting light, or mitigating glare. Do you need that much high-end magnification for hunting? No. Mostly, you max out at around 16x-18x for practical usefulness with FOV and recoil. And frankly, if I had to choose between a $500 scope and a $3000 pair of binos, or a $3000 scope and a $500 pair of binos, I'd go with the premium binos every time, at least for the Western big game hunting I do, as I'll spend literally 100x the time behind binos that I do behind my rifle scope.

But your scope absolutely is a world-class hunting optic that will last a lifetime. And once you spend some time behind it, you'll never want to go with a lower quality scope again.

EDIT: My only concern with what you've mentioned are the scratches on the ocular lens. This would cause me to hesitate doing the deal if it was online only. If you've seen the scope in person and have personally verified the scratches are both minor and not a problem, then it's a great deal. The exterior scratches are cosmetic and wouldn't be a concern, unless they looked more like dings indicative of the scope having taken a fall or a hit.

I loved Swaro everything. Spotters, binos and scopes. Would rather hunt without my rifle than my NL pures. Have or have had the Z5, Z6, and Z8i.
Sadly every scope wouldn't hold zero, after a few hundred rounds and a few miles in the mountains. Sold the Z8i after it was returned from Swaro. The Z6 was put on a 204 varmint rifle after it was returned. The Z5 has held zero, but has less than 100 rounds on a braked 28 Nos.
I wouldn't trust any of them on my primary hunting rifle ever. I went over the handle bars on my mountain bike twice this past year in heavy snow. Pogo sticked my rifle hard from over 6 feet into rocks. The NF ATACR was dead on the next day at the range.
Swaro glass is top notch, but id doesn't really matter if it doesn't stay zeroed.

 

[crazybouthuntin]

What would you recommend?

I’m coming from the world of irons and Vortex Diamondbacks so damn near everything is an upgrade haha

Nightforce NX8 or Trijicon Tenmile

 

[SDHNTR]

I'd like to hear a little more evidence from people bagging on a Swaro scope here - I get it if it's a personal preference thing, or if you personally ended up with a lemon or something, but to say they aren't durable or don't work is about like criticizing an F-22. They're held in extremely high regard, and will usually be a top first or second choice for someone, except for those coming out of the tactical/tacti-cool community, who want all the magnifications and all the christmas-tree reticles, and damn the optic if it isn't night vision compatible.

You might find a few lines or models of scopes that are as good as a swaro Z8i, but you're just not going to find one that's better, broadly speaking. If cost isn't an issue, most of the deciding factors for people seem to be a very feature-specific preference.

Between glass, functionality, durability, low-light coatings, weight to magnification, etc, with all factors combined, across all of them averaged out, I'm just not aware of a better scope for actual hunting use than the Z8i series, especially if the owner isn't experienced in long-range precision shooting and doesn't need special reticles, or turrets they adjust thousands of times.

I've gone with Z8is for a number of my practical-use hunting guns over Schmidts, Marches, Tangent Thetas, Zeiss, Leupold, and others - those are premium scopes from killer companies, and for the most part are equal to the Z8s and may exceed them in one or two categories of measure. And for the most part, I can find a number in each company's lineup I'd be happy to have on one of my hunting guns. But on the whole, for my hunting guns, I keep going back to Swaros because nothing offers a better fit across the board for the practical realities of carrying a gun long distance, putting game on the ground fast, in any legal shooting light, and in any lighting conditions.

OP, the scope you've got on offer, and the price, are outstanding. The flex turrets are also excellent for the practical realities of hunting, especially for someone who isn't running a PRS gun. Do you need that quality of scope to hunt? No, absolutely not. It's largely luxury, where performance really only excells at the margins of extreme conditions, like getting 5 more minutes of usability at the end of legal shooting light, or mitigating glare. Do you need that much high-end magnification for hunting? No. Mostly, you max out at around 16x-18x for practical usefulness with FOV and recoil. And frankly, if I had to choose between a $500 scope and a $3000 pair of binos, or a $3000 scope and a $500 pair of binos, I'd go with the premium binos every time, at least for the Western big game hunting I do, as I'll spend literally 100x the time behind binos that I do behind my rifle scope.

But your scope absolutely is a world-class hunting optic that will last a lifetime. And once you spend some time behind it, you'll never want to go with a lower quality scope again.

EDIT: My only concern with what you've mentioned are the scratches on the ocular lens. This would cause me to hesitate doing the deal if it was online only. If you've seen the scope in person and have personally verified the scratches are both minor and not a problem, then it's a great deal. The exterior scratches are cosmetic and wouldn't be a concern, unless they looked more like dings indicative of the scope having taken a fall or a hit.

I couldn’t disagree more, and I owned 5 or 6 of em before I saw the light. 50% failure rate.

 

[rojocop]

I own 2 Swarovski scopes Z3 3x10x42mm and a Z6 2.5x12x50mm with a 30mm main tube...you will not go wrong spending the money on a Swarovski.

 

[Backcountrydraft]

I'd like to hear a little more evidence from people bagging on a Swaro scope here - I get it if it's a personal preference thing, or if you personally ended up with a lemon or something, but to say they aren't durable or don't work is about like criticizing an F-22. They're held in extremely high regard, and will usually be a top first or second choice for someone, except for those coming out of the tactical/tacti-cool community, who want all the magnifications and all the christmas-tree reticles, and damn the optic if it isn't night vision compatible.

You might find a few lines or models of scopes that are as good as a swaro Z8i, but you're just not going to find one that's better, broadly speaking. If cost isn't an issue, most of the deciding factors for people seem to be a very feature-specific preference.

Between glass, functionality, durability, low-light coatings, weight to magnification, etc, with all factors combined, across all of them averaged out, I'm just not aware of a better scope for actual hunting use than the Z8i series, especially if the owner isn't experienced in long-range precision shooting and doesn't need special reticles, or turrets they adjust thousands of times.

I've gone with Z8is for a number of my practical-use hunting guns over Schmidts, Marches, Tangent Thetas, Zeiss, Leupold, and others - those are premium scopes from killer companies, and for the most part are equal to the Z8s and may exceed them in one or two categories of measure. And for the most part, I can find a number in each company's lineup I'd be happy to have on one of my hunting guns. But on the whole, for my hunting guns, I keep going back to Swaros because nothing offers a better fit across the board for the practical realities of carrying a gun long distance, putting game on the ground fast, in any legal shooting light, and in any lighting conditions.

OP, the scope you've got on offer, and the price, are outstanding. The flex turrets are also excellent for the practical realities of hunting, especially for someone who isn't running a PRS gun. Do you need that quality of scope to hunt? No, absolutely not. It's largely luxury, where performance really only excells at the margins of extreme conditions, like getting 5 more minutes of usability at the end of legal shooting light, or mitigating glare. Do you need that much high-end magnification for hunting? No. Mostly, you max out at around 16x-18x for practical usefulness with FOV and recoil. And frankly, if I had to choose between a $500 scope and a $3000 pair of binos, or a $3000 scope and a $500 pair of binos, I'd go with the premium binos every time, at least for the Western big game hunting I do, as I'll spend literally 100x the time behind binos that I do behind my rifle scope.

But your scope absolutely is a world-class hunting optic that will last a lifetime. And once you spend some time behind it, you'll never want to go with a lower quality scope again.

EDIT: My only concern with what you've mentioned are the scratches on the ocular lens. This would cause me to hesitate doing the deal if it was online only. If you've seen the scope in person and have personally verified the scratches are both minor and not a problem, then it's a great deal. The exterior scratches are cosmetic and wouldn't be a concern, unless they looked more like dings indicative of the scope having taken a fall or a hit.

Yeah the scratch looks to be cosmetic. It’s perfectly fine to look through.

I’ve also held a few NF scopes, and they’re awesome heavy (not that this big ass 15in scope is a feather).

I’m probably going to jump on the offer. My buddy let me shoot the rifle it’s on, and man, it’s awesome glass