When you go to the market to buy something, you always look for the best in that category. Just like that, when you browse Amazon for a brand new scope for your crossbow, you want the best.
But you and I both know finding the best crossbow scope is not an easy task.
What makes these 10 crossbows the best? I mean I can just call the highest-priced crossbow scope the best and be done with it. But will that help you? No, not a bit. We are not just recommending top-of-the-line and be done with it.
In this post, you will find the best crossbow scope that fits your budget. That’s right we gave budget priority. That doesn’t mean we slacked off in other parts of reviews. After reading one review you can guess how detailed all of them are written.
While it is true that we are mainly aiming to give you the best price to performance, we are also trying to make you understand why they are best at their price segment.
If you have read our reviews for a while you will know we try to explain every little detail as possible. If you are new here, welcome you are in for a treat. So, without any further delay let’s dive right into it.
Factors To Consider
Choosing the best one is a difficult process. That’s why we are here to help you solve that issue. First of all, there are huge amounts of crossbow scope in the market. The best one in the market might not be the best for you. That’s why we are going to discuss some key features that your crossbow scope should have.
Like spotting scopes or rifle scopes, crossbow scopes have many features to them. While some may be fancy troupe to catch your attention some are simply amazing features that you can’t ignore.
Durability
We have said it in the past and we are saying it again if a scope has a fragile body that will break from a simple neck height drop don’t buy it. Durability is the key to your scope lasting longer and making your investment behind the scope worth it.
Now depending on your budget, you might get the aircraft-grade aluminum body but you might also get the cheap metal body. Aluminum is always a priority because magnesium alloy going to cost you a fortune to make a scope.
Lens
The two glasses that you see through are the objective lens and the ocular lens. If the lenses aren’t any good you better off not buying the scope. You are going to stare through those lenses for hours.
If they can’t provide clear and crisp images of your target why bother? Choose your lenses wisely if a better lens costs a little bit more trust me it’s worth it.
Coating
Now the scope can have several coatings. The housing can have a matte finish or a rigid finish. The optics are coated as well. Depending on the coating the scope can perform miles better than its competitor. Yeah, we are not joking. For example, if a scope is nitrogen purged it will never fog under cold conditions.
But if it isn’t the scope will start to fog inside from a little amount of cold weather. Fully multi-coating can ensure that the scope gathers most of the light and provides clear and better images. While multi-coated optics are good fully multi-coated ones are better.
Reticle
Reticle plays an important role when buying a new scope. There are many kinds of reticles available for scopes. In some scopes, the reticle is glass etched which means if your scope falls and disorients the objective lens your reticle won’t move because it is etched to the glass.
Some scope has a multicolor reticle and some have multi-lined. Some reticle also has rangefinders built into them. Hunters might prefer the rangefinder one whereas target shooters might choose the multi-lined one.
In short, choose your reticle wisely and only choose the one that you need or will benefit from.
Magnification
While people might think that scope should have magnification. While you are not wrong scopes are made for magnification in the first place. But it’s not true when comes to crossbow scopes.
Most of the crossbow scopes come with fixed magnification. But some do come with variable magnification. Most crossbow hunters prefer to hunt from short range. While target shooters might want magnification to shoot from different ranges. You must decide whether you need magnification or not.
Illumination
Most of the modern-day scope comes with an illuminated reticle. Some illuminated reticle has multiple adjustment levels which can be adjusted through the turrets.
While there is scope that does not have any kind of illumination. If your hunting session is mostly near dusk or low light area you must choose a scope that performs well in low light and has an illuminated reticle.
Eye Relief
This might not seem as important because crossbow recoils aren’t that high so you don’t need generous eye relief. It’s simply not true.
You need a generous amount of eye relief to protect your eye from the shock. You also need a fair amount of distance between the eyepiece and the eye to not strain the eye.
Objective Lens Diameter
Depending on the objective lens diameter your field of view will vary. Most of the time 1-inch tube crossbow scope has a 32mm objective lens. Which provides plenty of field of view depending on the certain model.
The objective lens diameter also plays a vital role in how much light will gather inside the scope. Resulting in image quality.
1. Nikon Prostaff P3 3×32 Crossbow Scope
No offense if you don’t know about Nikon in 2020 you are probably living under a rock. Nikon is the beast for great cameras and lenses.
For the price, the Nikon Prostaff P3 crossbow 3×32 is an excellent product that does almost no compromises. Except for maybe the no-illuminated reticle. If you are a daytime hunter it shouldn’t bother you a bit. If you fall into this category you can go for Prostaff P3 blindly.
AIRCRAFT-GRADE ALUMINUM rugged 1-inch main tube is so well built that we are pretty sure you are not breaking it. Unless you really want to break it that’s another topic.
RUGGED EXTERIOR gives you a build that you can use in any weather. And you can use it in any weather as the scope is water resistant. Overall excellent build quality no complaints on this part.
LENS: Nikon makes excellent lenses for cameras, for scopes. No compromises here either. Top-end fully multi-coated optics give you the best images that you need while hunting.
OBJECTIVE LENS: The 32mm fully multi-coated objective lens gathers more than enough light to perform well in every lighting condition.
BDC 60 RETICLE: The BDC 60 crossbow reticle is a lot like your traditional BDC reticle with some vertical dots. The BDC 60 reticle is designed for a variety of crossbow bolts, point weights, and velocities, the reticle’s 20-yard ‘zero’ provides corresponding aiming point circles for shots out to 60–and even beyond 80 yards–depending upon the bolt length, weight, point weight, and velocity.
2. Hawke 1.5-5×32 IR SR Crossbow Scope
Hawke is a well-known and well-respected brand in the crossbow and accessories world. The Hawke 1.5-5×32 is no exception but the best crossbow scope. It is well-built and the optics are top-of-the-line quality.
MONO-TUBE BODY: Just as you can expect from such a well-known brand excellent build quality. A 1-inch mono-tube body gives the scope a superior feel and sturdiness. The scope does not feel cheap at all. Frankly saying it shouldn’t.
QUALITY MENTIONS: The build is so strong that you don’t even need a cover. You can probably nail a coffin with the scope. Haha just kidding don’t do that. The tough housing is also water-resistant.
OPTICS: Hawke is proud of its scope optics. They should be. Their scope optics are just so good that even Trophy Ridge takes lenses from them. Fully multi-coated lens for excellent light gathering. Which results in excellent clarity of images and crisp visuals.
ILLUMINATED RETICLE: The glass-etched reticle illuminates. The illumination color is red and green. So you can have a great low light experience. Because red illuminated reticles tend to interfere with vision at low light. The green eliminates a lot of that problem. The illuminated reticle has 5 levels of brightness. You can also use it with any crossbow because it can keep up with up to 425fps of speed.
OTHER FEATURES: They are placed quite strongly inside the housing we are sure it is not coming out of the housing anytime soon. Unless you decide to try to nail a coffin with it. The scope is nitrogen purged so it’s fog proof & it has a field of view of 22.5-75 feet at 100 yards.
3. Trophy Ridge XV530IR Crossbow Scope
Not everyone here has heard of the brand Trophy Ridge. But that doesn’t mean the brand is bad. This review might prove just that.
Trophy Ridge Speed Comp XV530IR is the best crossbow scope for daytime hunters. Because during the low light time, the reticle tends to shine so much you will easily give away your position to your prey.
DURABILITY: While we failed to find any official confirmation about the scope’s build during our testing, we didn’t see any kind of scratches or dents in the body. So we believe that the scope is made as quite durable.
AN INTERESTING PART: There were some reports about Trophy Ridge taking lenses from Hawke. So rest assured their optics are the same high quality well-built and durable as Hawke scope has.
MULTI-COATED: The optics are even fully multi-coated. It is 100% assured that you are going to get one of the best experiences through the scope.
LOW-LIGHT PERFORMANCE: The scope has excellent low-light performance thanks to the 30mm lens gathering enough light transmission.
SPEED: The main selling point of the scope is it can keep up with crossbows with speeds from 250 to 430fps. There are very little amount of crossbows that can achieve that speed.
4. Excalibur 2.5-6x32mm Crossbow Scope
Excalibur Tact Zone is different from the rest of the scopes on the list. Most of the scope in today’s top 10 crossbow scope reviews list is fixed zoom. But Tact-Zone 2.5-6×32 has a variable zoom.
Tact-Zone is the best crossbow scope for the low 100$ range. But it might set you back a little bit with all the accessories and mounts you need to buy. But as an individual scope, it held its mark.
STURDY BODY: The body quality of the Excalibur Tact-Zone is well-made and quite sturdy. While the scope is only 13 inches long and weighs just around 1 pound. One might think that the build quality is not that good here. The scope body is made out of relatively lightweight aluminum. It is durable but does not have any extra weight in the material. The scope is also shock-proof so no problem using it with modern crossbows.
MULTI-COATED: As the scope’s optics are fully multi-coated it means that you will see more clear and crisp images even in low light. Because the optics went through multiple levels of coating it made sure that it let the maximum amount of light through so that you can watch a clear view.
GLASS ETCHED RETICLE: The reticle is a glass etched reticle and is called Tact Zone & the magnification of the Excalibur Tact Zone 2.5-6×32 is 2.5x and max 6x of magnification.
OBJECTIVE LENS: The objective lens of the scope is 32mm which provides plenty of field of view and lets through plenty of light. You get 20 feet of field of view at max zoom. The scope can also keep up with modern crossbows because it can go up to 410fps.
5. Sightmark Core SX 3×32 Crossbow Scope
Sightmark makes pretty good rifle scopes and red dots Even crossbow scopes. And I am not even surprised as it is one of the most spec’ed out on the list while being on the cheaper end. Core SX is a pretty best crossbow scope for people who are on a budget.
BODY: The body quality is what you might accept from someone like Sightmark. The build quality should be the main selling point of the scope. One of the best bodies under 150$ and the best within 120$. That says a lot about the scope, doesn’t it?
MULTI-COATED: Not fully multi-coated but multi-coated. That doesn’t mean the scope is going to perform badly under low light. On the contrary, the 11 adjustable brightness reticle makes up for the lack of full multi-coating.
VXR-M RETICLE: Glass etched red illuminated VXR-M reticle. It has 11 adjustable brightness settings. The reticle is not that bad to get adjusted to.
6. Barnett w/Rings 4x32mm Crossbow Scope
BODY: The body quality of Barnett 4×32 is average. Not that great not that bad either. While Barnett does not disclose what material they are using on the scope. But we are pretty sure it is some kind of aluminum. There is no weatherproof guarantee but the water and shock resistance give some assurance.
MULTI-COATED: Multi-coated optics ensure that you get clear images. Because the scope allows most of the light to go through the lenses without hindering the ray and thus you get higher quality and clean images.
RETICLE is the best part of the scope. You get 5 aiming points which allows you to shoot at variable range with ease. The scope comes with a guide that will help you to sight in your scope at your preferred aiming points.
7. UTG 4×32 Pro 5-Step Crossbow Scope
Leapers Inc. is an American-based manufacturer that makes gun accessories. They make pretty best crossbow scope. The UTG 4×32 is no exception either.
SMART SPHERICAL STRUCTURE (SSS): The scope is built on the manufacturer’s True Strength Platform with Smart Spherical Structure(SSS). This helps you to achieve the Most Precise and Accurate Windage/Elevation Adjustment. Also toughest recoil resistance. In short, you get really strong housing.
BROADBAND LENS COATING: Superior Quality Precision Broadband Lens Coating Offers the Brightest Image and a Generous Field of View. The lenses are really good for a 70$ scope. Unlike the Sightmark this one is nitrogen-purged which means you are not seeing any fogging issue.
BUILT-IN SUNSHADE: To protect the lenses of the scope it also has a built-in sunshade. Parallax is pre-adjusted at 50 yards.
8. Truglo w/Rings 4×32 Crossbow Scope
STURDY FINISH: The length of the scope is just 8″ & it comes with 3 kinds of finishes. The one that we recommend is the matte black finished one. Because we love matte black and the reticle of this one is dual-color illuminated. The body quality of this Truglo is nothing impressive, to be honest. But the finish! It’s nailed the coffin. Because the finish is quite sturdy. That is why we bring the Truglo 4X32 as the best crossbow scope. the scope will survive drops and random bumps.
LIGHT TRANSMISSION: The fully coated lens provides a hefty amount of light transmission resulting in good quality pictures. While it is not fully or even multi-coated the current TG8504B3L model has an illuminated reticle to fill up for the missing.
DUAL-CORE ILLUMINATED RETICLE: The scope has a dual-color illuminated reticle but can be used without illumination too. The Truglo 4X32 comes with the mounting ring so you don’t have to buy them separately.
OTHER FEATURES: The field of view is pretty generous 24 feet at 100 yards. While the zoom is fixed at 4x by no means it compromises with picture quality. For a 70$ 32mm objective lens scope, it is pretty darn good if you ask me.
9. Hammers Compact 4×32 Crossbow Scope
BODY: The scope has an 8″ body and rigid shockproof design. The scope is also water resistant. But we have heard complaints about the reticle turning sideways after taking a fall. Which is somewhat true. The body is built quite decent but the placement of the scope lenses could have been more firmly placed. Or an etched-in glass reticle could have prevented the whole issue.
OPTICS: While Hammers stayed silent about the optics coating they did disclose it is nitrogen purged. This means that you can use it under cold weather too. But we don’t recommend you test it under snow or something.
ILLUMINATED RETICLE: Two-color illuminated in red and blue the reticle has multiple lines horizontally. The reticle is weird to put it simply. It should take quite a bit of time to get adjusted to. But it is what it is.
OTHER FEATURES: Fixed zoom at 4x is not bad at all to look at. The field of view is decent and the eye relief is also generous.
10. TenPoint RangeMaster 1.5-5×32 Crossbow Scope
TenPoint Crossbows is a well-renowned brand in the crossbow and accessories industry. TenPoint is well known for providing top-tier crossbows and scopes. Rangemaster Pro is the ultimate best crossbow scope.
DURABILITY: TenPoint doesn’t advertise the product as shockproof but through our testing period, we found it to be pretty durable. The scope is water and fogproof. The 8.25-inch long scope has a 32mm objective lens.
OPTICS: The optics on the Rangemaster Pro is really good. They have a fixed magnification but you get enough magnifications for your use. The reticle is scratched into the glass. There isn’t any official statement on the eye relief of the scope but in our testing, it was pretty generous.
OBJECTIVE LENS: With the 32mm objective lens, you get plenty of Field of view. Even though there is no official statement we believe you should get around 25 feet at 100 yards with max zoom. Overall the optics are well-built and won’t scratch from surface damage.
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Conclusion
Choosing a scope is never easy. But we hope that we helped you somehow. Like we said earlier you need to sort yourself out on the specific category in which you belong.
If you want to hunt past sunset you need a scope that has an illuminated reticle and performs well in low light. If you want to shoot from a range you gonna need a scope that has a great reticle to help you target practice.
Hi, I’m Brent Hansford. A writer turned hunter & now sharing my love for the sport through writing. As I practically breathe weapons, I firmly believe I’m capable of providing you with new knowledge about firearms and hunting. My mission is to help more people get better at hunting & master the weapons. Let me help with unleashing the beast within you!
