Golden Eagle vs NF Competition

[Timon]

I have to say the GE won out over the NF for me, I compared both the Competition and the long proven reliable BR. I even bought a BR and gave it a try over the Golden Eagle just because from all the talk and praises it gets I just knew I must have judged it by a fluke. But after a brand New BR side by side,, from 200 yards to just over 1100 yards, the GE won in the optics dept. Both shaded and full sun, both were very good, but the GE was better!

I will add, just to keep it an honest comparison, I was never once thinking about or worried about the corner of my scope and if I could see the edge better on one or the other, this to me is not relevant on a scope with zero field of view capability, I buy scopes of this power for one reason only, to see a very fine and small aiming point, and worry about what the image of that particular point is!

I also seen that although I experienced better results at 42 to 45 power over the NF, the GE becomes almost useless as you zoom beyond that, I would never consider using it past 50 or so power! They should have stopped at the 50 to 55 power that NF did, probably because of the same results we would see with them as well!

I also will say I was very disappointed with both NF for the forgiveness of the eye box! Eye placement was very critical compared to the GE, it had a much more forgiving and better eye relief, not needing to have exact perfect eye placement to get good bright sharp images of my target point. This to me would be a deciding factor even if the optics were even or slightly not as good, as I have a pinned and plated neck to deal with.

But the fact is the only thing I could find the NF could provide better than the GE was it's praise from previous owners, and most had no experience with the GE. At this time the GE has had great praise as well as no problem tracking and holding POI.

I will say, I was disappointed when I first got mine, and why I later did buy and try to go with the NF. I had to send mine back before I ever used it,, but that was only because of internal cosmetics, it had a couple specs of dirt well to the bottom at 5 and 8 o'clock areas on the inside of the glass. But come on man,, we should expect better QC on a scope pushing 2K. I realize now and then any manufacturer can have one slip thru,, but I hate it when I'm the one that has to deal with it!!

Nearly 6 months later, in humid and 90*+ weather to snow and near freezing weather, I am very happy with the results and the optics with the GE, I won't be changing in the near future!

Thank for a very detailed review. I decided to stay with the Golden Eagle.

 

[ronsatspokane]

I no longer trust opinions on the quality of glass unless they talk about the various forms of optical aberrations and how they were corrected or not corrected. I think many people do not adjust the scope to their eye before they begin evaluating it. You see it all the time in stores. Person picks up a scope, looks through it and puts it down declaring that it is not that good or that it is great. They don't know how to use a scope. Mechanically I've had very expensive scopes fail. I've also had cheap optics fail. You pay your money and you take your chances but in optics, money usually buys quality.

I currently have Nightforce, Sightron, Trijicon, Swarovski, Vortex, Nikon, Leupold, Hawke, Weaver and Bushnell. My current favorite, Trijicon ten mile 5-50 followed by Swarovski Habicht followed by Nightforce Comp but all the scopes are good given the price points and the application I use them for.

 

[wildcatter]

I no longer trust opinions on the quality of glass unless they talk about the various forms of optical aberrations and how they were corrected or not corrected. I think many people do not adjust the scope to their eye before they begin evaluating it. You see it all the time in stores. Person picks up a scope, looks through it and puts it down declaring that it is not that good or that it is great. They don't know how to use a scope. Mechanically I've had very expensive scopes fail. I've also had cheap optics fail. You pay your money and you take your chances but in optics, money usually buys quality.

I currently have Nightforce, Sightron, Trijicon, Swarovski, Vortex, Nikon, Leupold, Hawke, Weaver and Bushnell. My current favorite, Trijicon ten mile 5-50 followed by Swarovski Habicht followed by Nightforce Comp but all the scopes are good given the price points and the application I use them for.

In the first place no optic can be evaluated in a store! I've seen many that look good in the dry climate controlled and evenly lit environment,, outside in real atmospheric and light is what is needed to understand they quality of the glass for use in real world conditions. This is what coatings and quality glass cancel out, humans cannot adjust it out, parallax and focus are the only thing possible to adjust once the optical tools are made! Sunshades and filters can help, but any filter on any glass will degrade the optics regardless the quality.

Trust me, money and cost are the wrong things to determine quality, Just concentrating on optical quality is also neglecting many other, some more important considerations when evaluating precision shooting optics!