I have always loved every high end Leupold scope I've owned or looked through.... So I'm kind of really let down with this one.  At about 500 on out, at max mag, the image quality is shit.  At 600yds, I can barely read a speed limit sign.  The chromatic aberration is barely manageable with the parallax adjustment.  Overall, between the CA and resolution it's miserable to use.  

Bottom line, my old nf 3-15 and bushnell LRTS optically stomp a mud hole in this things ass.

I waited a month to receive this scope and really don't want to send it off to leupold for who knows how long.  Am I expecting too much out of this thing?  It has me bummed enough that I haven't even zeroed the thing yet.

That doesn't sound right and you should contact Leupold immediately.

I've got the 5HD 7-35x version and get a great picture at 1200 yards.  I would expect yours to perform just as well or better at 600 yards.

This.  My 5-25 hits way above its weight class.

You need to send that back. My 3.6-18 is the nicest scope I’ve ever owned, and crushed both the LRTSi and NXS I compared it to (but I never should have sold the LRTSi).

Dunno mane, I haven’t really put my 3.6-18 through many paces but I’m really impressed with it. I mostly like Leupold for their light weight, but they really knocked it out of the park with the Mk5.

Guess I'll be contacting Leupold today.

Got a shipping label to send it in.

Leopold kind of rubbed me the wrong way.  The guy had the attitude of "send it in and we'll prove you wrong" as opposed to "send it in and we'll check it out".

Update on this - Leupold "adjusted the parallax".  It's in transit back to me, we'll see what happens.

I kind of think the infinity focus was set wrong, which will cause terrible CA across the entire range.

How can I say this -- every Leupold optic I own has been sent back to Leupold for something -- and all are fantastic afterward.

Leupold owners here acting like they don't have the 14400 Beaverton OR address memorized.

Not sure I get your point.  Maybe I'm missing something.  I have more than two dozen scopes at any given time, and they are mostly mid-priced to high end from many different companies.  Quite a few have been and continue to be from Leupold.

In more than forty years, only two Leupold scopes were returned.  One was damaged when I was on horseback.  Rifle and I took a tumble when the horse stumbled.  The ocular  lens of the scope struck hard rock and shattered.  Leupold replaced the scope for free.  That was about 20 years ago.

The second instance was a recent seal failure in the ocular lens of an old LPS 2.5-10x45.   The heavily used scope just wore out.  The scope was about 25 years old.  Leupold did not have the part to repair it, so they sent me a free VX6-HD 2-12x42 Firedot Duplex as a replacement.  Pretty nice upgrade.

Neither of these returns was Leupold's "fault".  Certainly not material or workmanship.  Many other Leupold scopes I've had or still have never needed return.  Anything can break.  Nothing is perfect.  But their customer service has been rare and superb.

My collection includes several Leupolds, some 30+years old.  Never sent one back.

We have Mk IVs at work and 3 have been back to the factory multiple times for tracking issues, one has never been back.  The older guys bought their own scopes and the MK IVs have been sitting in the safe . With the new guys coming on and using the optics I expect they will be going back to the factory once they start cranking on the knobs again....