A recent 16" build inspired me to get a LPVO. I use Elcan Specters regularly, but this is my first "conventional" LPVO, other than a 1-6 VCOG I had years ago, and hardly used. I went with the Leupold because I like the brand, primarily because they have more of an American aspect, when compared to other brands. I have zeroed the gun, and confirmed out to 300m so far. No close range shooting yet. Initial impressions are favorable: very generous eye relief, and a more forgiving eye box than I recall on the VCOG. I am sure the reticle is not "daylight bright", but it hasn't presented a problem yet. It's in a ADM Recon STD 30mm QD mount, which I am liking a lot. I have historically used Larue, but went with ADM for this one because I find myself removing/installing a lot lately, given my preference for a dedicated night optical setup, and I figure a lever that doesn't cam directly against the upper may save some wear on the upper. More to follow, I guess. Maybe this will prove useful for anyone else considering this optic.

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Thank you.
It's always good to get meaningful reviews like this. Keep us posted.

Nice! Which reticle did you go with?

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Originally posted by KSGM:
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I have historically used Larue, but went with ADM for this one because I find myself removing/installing a lot lately, given my preference for a dedicated night optical setup, and I figure a lever that doesn't cam directly against the upper may save some wear on the upper. More to follow, I guess. Maybe this will prove useful for anyone else considering this optic.

Virtually all of my defensive long guns (and one hunting rifle) have optics on QD mounts but, other than for range testing, I rarely remove the optics. One of the reasons is that I've wondered if the cam lever would cause wear over repeated mounts/ removals. Admittedly, I haven't researched this or read any anecdotes about it, but it seems like a reasonable concern.

I haven't gone down the LPVO path yet, so I'll be interested in your experiences with it.

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Which reticle did you go with?

I went with the CM-R2 reticle. The only other option is a duplex, and that variant also lacks the CDS elevation turret. The CM-R2, if I understand it correctly, functions like an ACOG reticle, in terms of range estimation using a typical human shoulder width. I could be wrong on that, but it is designed for measuring/ranging either way. I intend to shoot mostly M193, some 77gr 5.56 Sig OTM, and maybe a bit of M855 through the gun; I imagine the reticle will, by chance, end up having somewhat accurate BDC functionality for one of those. I may optimize the zero for the 77gr, assuming it shoots OK.

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seems like a reasonable concern.

I have read one comment on another forum, in which the author states that his receiver(s) did experience "gouging" over time. One way to mitigate this is to adjust the tension to the lighter end of the spectrum, but my problem there is I use my night setup across multiple rifles, and there is a variance in receiver tolerances. This requires me to adjust the tension on the fly, which happens to be about 1/4 turn of the tension adjustment. The 1/4 turn works, but is relatively obtuse, and doesn't end up perfect every time; the imperfection isn't enough to impact accuracy in an appreciable way, as that optic setup isn't intended for anything past 100m, but it does mean that the levers may cam harder than would be ideal sometimes. Bottom line is I can't be bothered to fine tune the tension to the perfect point every time I am moving the thing to a gun that may have different tolerances, in an effort to avoid possible receiver wear.

Thank you for providing this review. Please keep us updated on your thoughts. This is a rather new optic that has not had many real-world reviews yet. The only one I've read so far was by Tom Beckstrand in one of the gun magazines. I really like the light weight of this optic, and Leupold is known for their glass quality. I've been considering this LPVO for a light weight AR, along with the new Mark 3HD series which are even lighter (even though they only go down to 1.5x on the low end).

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really like the light weight of this optic

I have been meaning to weigh it+mount, and compare it to a Specter. I am almost certain it's lighter, though less rugged. I'll add that weight data point later. The price of the Patrol 6HD is very attractive, IMO, considering the more American production process, when compared to competitors.

Well, the weights surprised me:
23.4oz on the Leupold with ADM
22.1oz on the Specter

The Leupold does wear a little bit of camo wrap, so it's safe to round that down to 23oz flat. The ol' Specter coming in lighter, and boasting a more rugged build. The higher magnification and lower price are clear advantages of the Leupold setup though; greater eye relief is worth a mention too. The Leupold also retains the patriotic edge, as the Elcan comes out of Canada.

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quote:

Originally posted by KSGM:
A recent 16" build inspired me to get a LPVO. I use Elcan Specters regularly, but this is my first "conventional" LPVO, other than a 1-6 VCOG I had years ago, and hardly used. I went with the Leupold because I like the brand, primarily because they have more of an American aspect, when compared to other brands. I have zeroed the gun, and confirmed out to 300m so far. No close range shooting yet. Initial impressions are favorable: very generous eye relief, and a more forgiving eye box than I recall on the VCOG. I am sure the reticle is not "daylight bright", but it hasn't presented a problem yet. It's in a ADM Recon STD 30mm QD mount, which I am liking a lot. I have historically used Larue, but went with ADM for this one because I find myself removing/installing a lot lately, given my preference for a dedicated night optical setup, and I figure a lever that doesn't cam directly against the upper may save some wear on the upper. More to follow, I guess. Maybe this will prove useful for anyone else considering this optic.

I just used the same ADM QD mount for my Vortex 1:6 and I really like it a lot. It’s a great piece at an affordable price.

That looks like a great scope.
ADM makes nice mounts, I have two.
The cool thing with those is if you get a scope with a different tube size you can just buy new rings and not fork out a bunch of money on a whole mount.

Mine get swapped around and have to be adjusted to each upper.
I adjust the tension to where it snaps closed but not hard enough that I need to loop some para cord around it to release it.

One observation from a brief shooting session today was my eyes felt more fatigued, looking through the 6HD, than when looking through the Specter.

Hello, KSGM.

Something I learned when I got my first LPVO is the importance of setting the diopter correctly. Since your scope has a 1x on the low end, you will NOT want to set the diopter to the position that gives you the sharpest reticle. This could result in a poor 1x shooting experience. This could be what's causing your eyes to get fatigued.

What you want to do is set the diopter to a position where your eyes *relax*. To do this, set the diopter all the way in and look through the scope at some targets around 10-15 yards away. Move the optic side to side and see how flat and natural the image is. Then start moving the diopter out and checking again and again. (Note that an LPVO is never truly 1x and there's no way to get a target at very close range, say 5 yards away, to look 1x. There will always be some magnification). 10-15 yards is a reasonable expectation for a flat 1x experience.

Eventually you'll reach a setting where the image seems flattest and most natural at 1x and your eyes and brain will "relax". As long as the clarity of the reticle is acceptable to you, then this is the diopter setting you want to use on an LPVO where 1x is important.

If you have not done this procedure yet, please try it and report back. I am curious to see how the 1x really is on this Leupold Patrol 6HD. I went through the same process when I got my Vortex Viper PST Gen 2 1-6x. In my case, the diopter setting that provided the sharpest reticle (all the way in) resulted in a slight *negative* magnification effect at 1x. Things actually looked slightly farther away. Kinda strange, but true. It's just my eyes and my Rx I guess. Everyone's eyes are different. But once I got the diopter set correctly for a good 1x shooting experience at 10 yards, it's a natural image to me.

Give it a try.

I'd also be curious to hear your thoughts on the scope's "eye box", that is, how easy it is to get behind the optic and how forgiving it is of head position... forward-and-backward, up-and-down, left-and-right. Also, the edge-to-edge clarity. If there is any distortion or fisheye effect at the edges of the image. Thanks.

I had already performed the 1x fine-tuning you described. The fatigue I experienced today was while shooting at a distant target on 6x magnification. I have yet to try any 1x CQB type shooting with the optic; I will certainly report on any eye box constraints, when I do. I have not made any critical assessment of the edge-to-edge clarity, and will try to keep it in mind, next time I am outdoors with the rifle.

You are spot-on, where the 1x adjustment process is concerned. Years ago, when I had the VCOG, I didn't understand that concept at first. I thought it was odd, that the 1x wasn't quite right, until I figured it out.

Snuck in a quick 1X close-range comparison this morning, between the Specter and Patrol 6HD, before starting on the honey-do list. The illumination is not even close to "daylight bright", on the 6HD. However, as I hypothesized above, it seems that, if it's bright enough to render the illumination too weak, it's bright enough that the black reticle contrasts sufficiently. The large horseshoe serves as a very visible reference at close range, and I felt at no disadvantage, compared to the Specter, when shooting. The eye box and eye relief are both far more forgiving on the 6HD, and the reticle remains visible, even when in the "shadow" portion of the FOV, if you're not centered on the optic. I guess you'd likely see a POI shift, if shooting in those conditions, but it remains usable, and actually renders the reticle illumination visible in bright conditions, as it becomes a sort of OEG, in that extreme misalignment. The Specter is a prism sight, and has limitations associated with that technology. Prism sights are funny nowadays; people seem to love them, so long as they're cheap and Chinese; like them and wish they could afford one, so long as they're ACOGs; and discount all the benefits of a system, due to a high price tag, in the case of the Specter. All that aside, the Patrol 6HD is very likeable, so far. I'll add more about the edge-to-edge clarity later.

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Glad you are liking the 6HD. I recently built an Aeroprecision AR10 in 308 with a 16 Inch barrel. I decided to put a Leupold VX3HD 1.5x5 scope on it as I had one just laying around and unused. I was only hoping to get the rounds out to 500-600 yards or so and figure a 1.5x5 will do well enough. The eye relief is excellent and the simple duplex scope has my old eyes liking a less busy reticle. I was worried about going with an lesser optic than the 6HD but so far i am liking what I am seeing from the smaller and cheaper scope. Now I need to work up some loads and get the CDS ordered. I do like a speed dial!

I attempted to be critical of the "edge-to-edge clarity" this morning. I am not super familiar with assessing that aspect, but there doesn't appear to be any distortion or poor image quality at the edges of the FOV. In observing objects passing through the outer limits, while traversing, I did note a very slight "scootch" of sorts. As an object gets very close to outer limit of the FOV, it seems it will spend just a little more time inside the FOV than it should. It'll kind of move, ever so slightly, toward the center of the FOV, before crossing the boundary into the black.

As I continue to assess the importance of the "daylight bright" illumination, I become more of the opinion that it's not quite as important as people make it out to be. I suppose it'd be reticle-dependent; with this reticle, I don't see it being a problem. The outer horseshoe is reminiscent of the AUG "donut"; it's fat enough to pick up, and doesn't obscure the target, so it's easy and quick to use, despite not being illuminated.

After more time with this optic, I still like it a lot. I am still getting used to the eye relief; it is so much longer than I am used to. I usually never extend my stock more than one or two notches back from fully collapsed, but I find myself pulling it all the way out a lot of times, to accommodate the long eye relief of this scope. Like most people (based on what I've read about LPVOs), I use it on 1x or 6x; I don't mess with the intermediate powers. Another note is maybe more about the ADM mount, than the scope itself: the return-to-zero between removing and reinstalling is quite good; it seems to have no more than maybe 1MOA of deviation. I haven't done any super scientific testing, but I haven't had any issues with wacky POIs after having the scope off/on; this is based on experiences out to 500 meters.