Subject: Leica ER vs Leupold VX-6
Posted: June/23/2014 at 07:49
I own and use both the Leica ER 2.5-10X42 with a plex reticle and the Leupold VX-6 2-12x42 with Fire Dot duplex reticle.
Of the two scopes for hunting I prefer the Leupold. It has less distortion on the lowest power and a less critical eyebox although the Leica is not far behind. The Leica has marginally more contrast and a very slightly wider field of view for a given power. Twilight performance is almost identical to my eyes and I have tested both side by side extensively. The reticle on the Leupold is one of the best I've ever used on a hunting scope and this is the main reason I prefer it over the Leica.
The plex reticle on the Leica has beautifully spaced and weighted posts but the center crosshair is way too thin. Surprisingly though, that thin crosshair can still be seen well into twilight. I definitely cannot see that the Leica is optically superior to the Leupold VX-6 apart from the slightly stronger contrast as mentioned above.
As far as looks go, I prefer the finish on the Leica and don't like the thick bright gold ring on the VX-6 series; looks tacky and cheapens the scopes appearance to my eyes. It's a hunting scope not a piece of jewellery and I can't see why it should have bright gold emblazoned on it. Not overly impressed with the large red Leica dot either but at least it's not over bearing. Then, that's just my personal taste and I have no liking for shiny, varnished rifle stocks either.
There has been talk of the Leica ER having too light windage and elevation clicks. My particular Leica is one of the latter production samples and the clicks definitely are not too light. Perhaps Leica have addressed the issue. The Aqua Dura coating on the Leica is very good feature and it would be nice if Leupold produced something similar.
The current price of the discontinued Leica ER makes them an incredibly good buy as long as you can get the reticle you want. The Leupold VX-6 is also a very, very good buy and the best hunting scope they've ever produced. A little heavy, but it's a 30mm tube after all. I've always though that Leupold scopes were a little overpriced, however as far as the VX-6 series is concerned I think they're underpriced.