Comparing the Leupold VX3 vs VX3i Riflescopes

If you ask a group of hunters or shooters to name the most popular scope brand made in the US, the answer will almost always be Leupold scopes. In addition to being one of the most popular and bestselling optical brands on the market, Leupold (officially named Leupold & Stevens Inc.) is also the oldest scope company in the US. I see and hear all kinds of questions about various Leupold scopes, so I thought it might make sense to start putting some of these questions and comparisons into posts for the site. The question I’m addressing today is a comparison of the Leupold VX3 vs VX3i scope series.

Before I get into the actual comparison, let’s do an overview of each series of scopes.

Leupold VX3 Overview

The Leupold VX3 series of scopes has a long and storied history in the Leupold story. Leupold introduced the VX3 line of riflescopes in 2009, and it was an upgraded version of the older Leupold Vari-X III and the Leupold VX-III scope lines.

The VX-3 scopes featured several areas of improvement over the original VX-III and Vari-X III series, including better optical quality (especially in low light situations), improved and more durable internal components, additional reticle options and better-quality illumination.

The VX3 family was a diverse and broad scope series that included a few variants, such as the VX-3L models. While Leupold was frequently updating the VX3 family of scopes, at one point, the complete VX3 family consisted of 30+ different scope models, with each scope having different finish options and different reticle options. With all the available options and variations, there was a point where the entire VX3 line consisted of nearly 100 different models.

Leupold offered this series in both 1-inch tubes and 30mm tubes. In addition, several of the VX-3 and VX-3L models were equipped with the Leupold Custom Dial System, which was commonly referred to as the Leupold CDS system. All the models with the Custom Dial System were marked with a “CDS” designation.

Several of the VX3 and VX3L scopes were marked as “Target” models. These scopes feature a taller turret compared to the standard turrets seen on the non-target models.

A few of the VX3 scopes were marked with an “EFR” designation. The EFR designation stands for Extended Focus Ring. Riflescopes with the EFR feature could focus down to targets at 10 yards, which is considerably closer than most Leupold scope models will typically focus.

Here’s a quick overview of all the VX-3 scope models:

Leupold VX-3L Scopes

The VX-3L series of scopes was a particular variant of the larger VX3 scope line. The VX3L scope models featured a specially designed ocular bell that was concave so the riflescope could be mounted as close to the barrel as possible.

Many hunters mistakenly think that the “L” designation meant that all the VX3L scopes were illuminated, but that’s incorrect. Like the standard VX3 scopes, the VX3L models were produced in 1-inch and 30mm tube sizes. The scopes with illuminated reticle options were built on a 30mm tube.

With the VX-3L scopes, the unique objective bell design allowed the objective bells to be slightly larger than usual. In this scope line, several of the ocular bells were 56mm versus the typical 50mm sized bell.

The VX-3 scope series was very popular within the hunting community because those scopes offered a non-frills riflescope with good quality optics backed by Leupold’s stellar warranty program.

The 2.5-8 and 3.5-10×40 versions of the VX3 were extremely popular models, especially with deer hunters. One of my uncles was a diehard Leupold fan. He had three primary deer rifles, and all three were equipped with one of the VX3 2.5-8 scopes.

Leupold opted to discontinue nearly all the VX-3 and VX-3L scope lines at the end of 2015. The only VX-3 scope that Leupold still manufactures is the VX-3 Handgun 2.5-8×32 scope. The VX-3 series was replaced by the VX-3i series of scopes.

Leupold VX3i Overview

The VX-3i family of scopes was introduced in 2016 as an upgraded offering of the classic VX-3 scope family. According to Leupold, the “I” designation in the VX-3i series stood for “improved” as the VX3i models were marketed as having better optical quality (especially in low light), improved internal components, side focus (on select models), and a few other cosmetic upgrades.

The most significant upgrades included Leopold’s Twilight Max Light Management System and the addition of a side focus option in select models.

While Leupold did not offer the VX-3i models the same configurations as the original VX-3 scopes, they did stick with the more popular power magnification ranges.

Here’s a quick overview of the VX-3i scope offerings with a look at available finishes, tube size, and reticle options for each scope model:

Leupold discontinued the entire VX-3i line of scopes at the end of 2020.

Comparing the VX3 to the Vx3i

Since the VX3i series was designed to be an upgraded version of the VX-3 series, there are several areas where the VX3 and the VX-3i scope series are similar and a few areas where they are different. Here’s a look at the differences between the two series.

Optical Quality

Leupold’s information indicates that the optical quality between the two families of riflescopes is noteworthy, especially in twilight or low light hunting situations.

The VX3 scopes were advertised as having Leupold’s Diamondcoat 2 lens coating coupled with their Xtend Twilight Lens System and edge blackened lenses. Additionally, these scopes were advertised as having a 98% light transmission rate.

The VX-3i scopes were advertised as having Leupold’s Diamondcoat 2 lens coating coupled with their Twilight Max Light Management System and edge blackened lenses. These scopes were also promoted as having a 98% light transmission rate through the scope.

As you can see from the specs above, the VX-3 and VX-3i appear to be very close in optical quality on paper.

Having compared both series side by side, they seem nearly identical as far as real-world performance. However, I give the VX3i series an ever-so-slight edge in brightness in low light situations.

However, I’ve let other shooters make a side-by-side comparison, and they report no discernable difference between the two series (especially if the magnification power is the same).

At the end of the day, I’d say that they are nearly equal in terms of brightness, color, and clarity.

Scope Finish

Now, this is an area where there are some specific differences.

The VX3 scopes were typically available in either a gloss finish, matte finish, or silver finish (for specific scope models).

With the VX3i series, Leupold kept the matte finish option but discontinued the gloss finish and silver finish options. Except for a few limited-run models, most all the VX3i scopes were only available in a matte finish.

Judging from comments I’ve seen online and comments from shooters/hunters in person, a segment of Leupold’s customer base was quite unhappy that the gloss finish option was phased out.

One of my contacts at Leupold reported that they still receive requests every month to bring back the old gloss finish option.

Power Magnification Range

While there were a few minor changes in specific power ranges between the VX3 and VX3i series, for the most part, Leupold kept the power magnification ranges nearly the same.

Both scope series were offered in the following magnification options:

• 1-3×20
• 75-6×32
• 5-8×36
• 5-10×40
• 5-10×50
• 5-14×40
• 5-14×50
• 5-20×40
• 5-20×50
• 5-25×50

One area where there are some differences involves the VX-3L and the VX-3i series. When the VX-3L series was phased out, Leupold did not continue offering any of the larger 56mm objectives in the VX3i line except for a 3.5-10×56 model and a 4.5-14x56mm model. With the exception of those two models, the rest of the VX3i series tops out in a 50mm objective.

Tube Size

Both the VX3 and VX3i models feature scopes were built on 1-inch tubes and 30mm tubes. Any scope in either series with an illuminated reticle is built on a 30mm tube.

The VX3 series featured eight scope models built on a 30mm tube and 13 models constructed on a 1-inch tube. If you combine the VX-3 and VX-3L series together, there are 16 30mm scope options and 17 1-inch models.

The VX3i series features 13 scopes manufactured with a 1-inch tube, and ten scopes built on a 30mm tube.

For the most part, the number of 30mm and 1-inch tube scopes was reasonably consistent across both scope series.

Reticle Options

There are a few noticeable differences with the available reticles between the two scope families.

The VX3 and VX3i scopes featured the following reticle options broken down by non-illuminated and illuminated:

As you can see from the reticle information displayed above, here are the following reticle differences between the VX3 and VX3i series:

The VX3 series featured a reticle option called the Boone & Crockett Big Game reticle. It was carried over to the VX3i scopes, but Leupold changed the name from Boone & Crockett Big Game over to Boone & Crockett.

The VX3i series features all the reticle options in the VX3 series, but Leupold added another reticle option called a Wind-Plex reticle to the VX3i scopes.

The VX-3 scopes were available with five different illuminated reticle options. In the VX3i riflescopes, Leupold removed all the illuminated reticle options except for the Illuminated Duplex reticle.

The VX-3 scopes featured three scope models with an illuminated reticle option. With the VX3i series, Leupold only offered one scope with an illuminated reticle option.

Parallax Adjustments

Another area of difference between the VX3 and VX3i series of scopes was the parallax adjustment capability for each series.

In the VX3 line of scopes, only one model was equipped with a parallax adjustment. That model was a 4.5-14×40 with an adjustable objective.

In the VX3i series, Leupold expanded the parallax adjustment options via adjustable objective options and via side focus options. This series featured a single scope with an adjustable objective option and eight scope models equipped with a side focus feature. Most all the scope models fitted with any sort of parallax adjustment in this line would focus down to a minimum distance of 50 yards. The lone exception to that rule was the 6.5-20×40 EFR CDS Target model, which would focus down to a minimum distance of 10 yards.

The VX-3i series definitely had better parallax correction options compared to the VX-3 series.

Are the Leupold VX3 scopes still available for purchase?

Unfortunately, since Leupold stopped producing the VX3 scopes in 2015, it isn’t easy to find any of these models new in box. Your best bet for finding a VX3 these days will be on the secondary or used market.

Are the Leupold VX-3i scopes still available for sale or purchase?

Since the VX3i scopes were discontinued at the end of 2020, some new models are still available for purchase.

Here are all the new Leupold VX-3i scopes that I was able to locate for sale:

Leupold VX-3i LRP 4.5-14x50mm Rifle Scope, 30 mm Tube, First Focal Plane, Black, Matte,...

Leupold VX-3i LRP 4.5-14x50mm Rifle Scope, 30 mm Tube, First Focal Plane, Black, Matte,...

$898.99

in stock

Check Price at Opticsplanet.com

Opticsplanet.com

Leupold VX-3i CDS Target 6.5-20x 50mm - Black

Leupold VX-3i CDS Target 6.5-20x 50mm - Black

$949.99

in stock

Check Price at Sportsmans.com

Sportsmans.com

Hopefully the information provided in this post answers your questions about how the Leupold VX-3 scopes compare to the Leupold VX-3i scopes.

BradJ

I’ve been working in the firearms and sporting optics industry for over 20 years, with a personal and professional interest in all things related to rifle scopes, Through a combination of work experience, formal training, and personal experiences, I have extensive experience mounting, testing, and evaluating different rifle scope models across most major optical brands.