How to Evaluate Glass Quality

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No matter how great the features, bells and whistles, or the price, the heart and soul of any scope is the glass used in the lens. The quality of that glass and optical coatings can mean the difference between a great scope and a so-so scope.

Typically, with scope glass, you generally get what you pay for. For the most part, the better the glass, the more expensive the scope model.

For my purposes, scope models are placed into one of 3 groups:

  • Entry-level/budget glass
  • Mid-range glass
  • High-end glass

Entry-level scopes use entry-level glass, and so and so forth. Of course, there are exceptions to that rule, but for the most part, that rule holds water.

How to evaluate glass quality

When you start discussing high-quality glass, historically, you are talking about glass from Germany/Europe or glass from Japan. For years, those two countries have been the leading sources of high-quality glass. Europe still has a slight end in quality, but Japan has lens production facilities that can come pretty darn close to high-end European glass.

Many scope brands have also started using glass from the Philippines, and it seems to work well for entry to mid-level glass. Most glass sourced from China tends to be of lower quality, but not always, as I’ve seen some examples of very good glass coming out of China. Glass from the Philippines is of higher quality, but it’s yet to reach the quality of glass from Japan or Europe.

It’s important to understand that the machines required to cut, produce, polish, and coat high-quality glass are unbelievably expensive, as are the necessary skills to do that kind of glasswork. This expense plays a direct role in the quality of the glass, which in turn plays a role in the cost of the scope.

So how do I look at optical glass and lump it into one of the groups above? Here are the three elements I look at, and in the order, I consider the most important:

Clarity – This means just what it says and refers to the optical clarity of the scope throughout the power range. To me, clarity is the most important factor in a riflescope.

Brightness – A self-explanatory term that describes the image’s brightness level displayed in the scope. Note that brightness has nothing to do with so-called “light gathering” capabilities. Instead, the brightness level is all based on the glass and the optical coatings.

Color – Color is less important to clarity and brightness, in my opinion, but worth mentioning. Color refers to the actual color that the glass depicts in the image. Ever looked through a low-quality scope and noticed that the returned colors in the image had a light green or orange hue? That’s an example of lower-quality color.

Do you know how jewelers evaluate diamonds on the 4 C’s? Well, scope glass and optical quality aren’t all that different. In the sports optics industry, those evaluation factors are commonly known as the CBC (although some would argue that the clarity and color could be reversed). Some high-end scope brands even assign what’s called a CBC value when discussing the different scope models within their brand.

At the risk of sounding like a scope snob (which I’m not if you pay attention to the cost of most of the models I review), unless you’ve spent time behind some seriously good glass, you may not really be all that aware of the vast differences in optical clarity. And, optical clarity is really what you are paying for should you decide to invest in high-end glass like Swarovski or Schmidt & Bender, or something along those lines. Typically, the price differences between OK and excellent glass come from the costs associated with the quality of the glass used in the scope.

When I review scopes and evaluate the glass, I’m assessing against that type of glass as it’s some of the best in the industry. But, unfortunately, rifle scopes are one of those areas where you really do kind of get what you pay for. The trick is finding a quality level that you and your budget can live with while still getting the performance and features you want.

As everyone has their perception of “good,” I wanted to offer some examples of what I considered brands who offer “Good” to “Really Good” glass:

  • Swarovski – This is a very expensive brand, but the optical quality is absolutely outstanding.
  • Schmidt & Bender – Another pricey European-based scope line that comes with fantastic optical quality.
  • Meopta – Meopta is not that well known since they are based in the Czech Republic, but they produce outstanding glass for the money.
  • Sightron – Their higher-end SIII and SV series of glass is excellent and offers many reticle options.
  • Leupold – Leupold is a household name in the US; their higher-end VX and Mark series offer good glass, but it comes at a price. Their lower-end stuff is so-so IMHO.
  • Nightforce – Another well-known US-based manufacturer that offers excellent glass at not-so-crazy prices. Not cheap by any means, but not crazy either.
  • Kahles – A super high-priced brand from Germany that offers phenomenal glass but it comes with a serious price tag.
  • Bushnell – Their higher-end “Elite” series offers excellent glass for the money.