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ATACR and NX8 quick review
This is between the 7-35 F1 ATACR and the 4-32 F1 NX8, both with MIL-C reticles.
Attachment 195182
Both scopes are on PRS style rifles.
To begin with, the ATACR is a monster. The NX8 felt big and sturdy until I bought the ATACR. Whilst the NX8 isn’t flimsy or light weight, it feels like a little swaro in comparison. This isn’t surprising considering the NX8 is more or less designed as a hunting optic/cross over optic. And that’s exactly what I’m using it for. It can sit on my comp 308 and then go on a lightweight hunter rig if I do desire. The ATACR on the other hand has no business being on a hunting rifle. Not unless you want to punish yourself.
Glass: The glass in both scopes is awesome! Both provide beautiful clarity and definition. Although the ATACR is noticeably sharper. Especially at max magnification. At 100m you could see the difference between a bee and a wasp with the NX8. You could read a book with the ATACR… The only other glass I could compare it to would be my swaro EL range 10x42. I’d say the ATACR is on par with the swaro glass with the NX8 only incrementally behind.
Further to glass clarity, the ATACR has a much more forgiving parallax adjustment. I can mount the rifle and spin to clarity immediately. The range of parallax is very wide too especially over 300m. The NX8 is very easy to focus too but takes just a second longer to “dial” the parallax in. It also has “narrower” bands of parallax out to 1000m. Whether this is just my eye, or a function of the zoom ratios, I’m not sure but ultimately the ATACR is a peach
Features: Both scopes are F1, have the same reticle, have zero stop, illumination and close magnification ranges.
Both scopes were super easy to sight in and zero. The only real differences I found were the ATACR has a ring to screw onto the threads where the windage cap comes off if you want to run exposed windage. The NX8 can also run exposed windage but has no option to protect the threads. I like the zoom ring better on the NX8. Just like most other scope manufacturers, only the zoom ring rotates so you can leave your scope caps in one place. On the ATACR, the whole eyepiece rotates. I understand it’s a military grade optic that needs to be able to be operated with gloves etc, but it’s a pain rotating the lense cap constantly. In this case I just tear it off when I’m shooting and pop it back on once I’m done.
The other feature of the NX8 I prefer over the ATACR is the elevation turret. Both and boldly marked, have extremely nice tactile clicks and have no back lash or “mush” at all. But the NX8 is 10Mil per turn and the ATACR is 12. This just means you r gotta math a bit harder if you’re in double turn territory with the ATACR. Not the end of the world but a little niggle none the less. I know Kahles has moved to 10 Mil turrets on their 525 DLR for ease of use under time stresses, which is what I’d put the ATACR against in a competition setting. The NF makes the DLR feel like a toy though.
In conclusion the ATACR is my pick of the two. It just feels indestructible, is very easy to drive (except that 12 mil turret) and gives me eyegasms when I look through it. The NX8 is perfect for what I bought it for. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it in competition or slap it on a hunting rig. I’m very, very happy with both optics and I don’t think anyone would be disappointed if they bought one.
