I am interested in purchasing a 1-6 scope for my AR.  Does anyone have experience with the Vortex HD Gen II, VCOG, and Leupold Mk6 scopes to provide a detailed comparison of the pros/cons of each for an AR platform?

Tag. Interested as well.

this is just my opinion based on shooting a few 1 to something power optics.

so i just tossed a vcog in lt mount on 14.5 762 tobr. wanted something with a 1 power option that also would allow me to shoot at distance. old saying per power you get about 100 yards/ meters. So ideally i wanted a 6 or 8 power. Anyway i have a short dot. love it. reticle is tiny and red dot is clear. cant ask for better glass. shot the 762 tobr with it and loved it. but when i got to 500 or so the 4 power short dot felt a little weak and i wanted my 762 not to be so limited by magnification.

then i bought a leupold 1-6 mk6. clear glass but reticle is thick and hides the target at distance. then the 1 power flicker of the red dot caused by not being in the box directly behind the optic became annoying.

so then i grabbed a vcog. its the horseshoe for 175gr.  first off it is built like a tank. glass is clear. the reticle isn't thick and 1 power its fast. i love the aa battery because its available everywhere. you get 30 days constant on. the magnification ring is responsive and big. the fin allows you to change from 1 to 6 quickly even with gloves (i doubt anyone ever shoots these style optics except on 1 or max). it works in any of the acog larue mounts. the vcog isn't super heavy and the profile feels very streamlined (for instance the battery is under the tube not sticking out).

anyway i just wanted to throw this out there for everyone looking for a 1- something optic. try the vcog.

I also have had some great luck with the steiner 1-4 that's on sale $875 euro optics. It has mil adjustments and the red dot is almost as bright as my short dot. I still think the vcog leaves you wanting a little with wind holds (something the leupold mk6 does well). I also wish the vcog had adjustable turrets. With the steiner and shortdot I mark my turrets for known distances and that way I can use the very fine center dot for more precision aiming. The vcog is basically an improvement over the acog. So if you've tried to take shots off the Bdc on an acog you know sometimes the 100-400 meter can feel busy. Down side of the short dot is its mil reticle moa Bdc specific turrets but like I said mark them and you're good. This is where the steiner shines because of mil turrets.

Anyway here are some older pics

240 meters and very rapidly fire 15 rounds of pmc 147gr into it without a miss. (Only reason it wasn't 20 was because I forgot to put my suppressor cover on and the heat stopped me)




Target is 19.5"x11.7"
Ignore the spot at the hook. While it can and has grouped better I was happy with that for being fast and a first round cold bore at unknown distance. And just before that it was rolled up completely disassembled in a pack!

Had a mk6 w/ the tmr reticle.  hated it.  the illumination blows.  

have yet to look at vcog but im sure its awesome.

i now have x2 primary arms 1-6's and they serve their purpose and work fine.  glass is meh but is expected for $270

i will probably get a vcog someday.

Bump

Were you looking for feedback too?  

I’ve run all three and they’re all different animals.  If I had to pick one right now to go with, the Vortex Razor takes the win.  It’s the best overall for optical quality and illumination.  It has the widest FOV, exceptional glass (light transmission, resolution, etc), daylight bright (RDS bright) illumination, and it’s just as rugged as the other two.  You just have to negotiate the weight, which is down to 21.5oz on the new Gen-IIE model.  The 115ft FOV is massive, and it’s got a huge eyebox.

I ran the Leupold Mark6 1-6x CMR-W 7.62 for a couple years on a LMT 308MWS and it was a fantastic optic.  The Mark6 has the same reflected reticle illumination as the Mark8 CQBSS, which was the first truly daylight/RDS bright illumination in a FFP reticle LPVO.  The Mark6 has exceptional glass with great light transmission and resolution, and optically it’s on par with the Razor.  The illumination is what everyone bitched about, but that is a result of how the reticle is illuminated.  The reticle “blinked” if you moved your head off the centerline of the eyebox, because the light reflecting off the reticle was reflected directly backward and not angled.  As the magnification increases, this “problem” gets worse.  It’s just a matter of understanding what it is and why it’s doing it.  NightForce uses this same technology, albeit more refined, on the NX8 and ATACR series 1-8x LPVOs.  I didn’t have an issue with it.  The Mark6 is nice because it’s only 17oz and has a 105ft FOV.  The eyebox was pretty substantial too.  With the Mk6 you just have to realize that this is an FFP scope, and as such, there are different engineering dynamics.  SFP scopes are just easier (and cheaper) to illuminate.  Under most circumstances, I think that FFP is pointless on a 1-6x, but the CMR-W reticle is actually pretty useful for long range shooting.  I’ve used the BDC out to 600yds and it works exceptionally well.  

The VCOG I tested was the original 1-6x (VC16 series), and I was less than impressed.  It sat on top of a buddy’s AR and I tried it out at CQB and out to 400yds.  For long range use and whatnot, it was a good optic and I liked it fine enough.  It was good, but not great.  The glass was nowhere near as good as the Vortex or Leupold, since both of those were using HD apochromatic glass.  The VCOG has a 95ft FOV, which is below the “average” FOV of 100ft @ 100yds (my personal benchmark for average).  The eyebox was slightly tighter too.  The overall package was nice, and it ran for a long time with the AA battery, but most LPVOs run for quite a while on a CR2032 anyways.  The illumination was daylight visible, but not daylight bright (RDS bright).  It was like a slight red glow that you could see, but it didn’t draw your attention that much and it certainly wasn’t like an RDS like what you got with the Vortex or Leupold.  This is another optic where the reticle is FFP and the illumination suffers as a result.  The FFP design is good with this too, and out to 400yds it was nice to have that FFP design for the BDC reticle.  The mounting system is cool in that it’s similar to the ACOG, so there are plenty of mounting options available if you don’t want the factory mount.  This optic is again going a little bit on the heavier side.  
The new VCOG 1-8x (VC18) models are optically better, with a 109ft FOV and I think they corrected the illumination so that it’s right on the edge of being daylight bright, similar to the AccuPower/Credo 1-8x setup.  The problem is the 1-8x is 31oz, which is getting ridiculous for weight and quite frankly, at that point you should be stepping up to the Razor Gen3 1-10x for less money and better performance.  

That all being said, the answer to this now is the Vortex Razor Gen3 1-10x as the current undisputed king of LPVOs as far as I’m concerned.  I run numerous optics right now to include a Nightforce NX8 and Kahles K16i, and the Razor Gen3 is the one that I think is the best overall package if you plan to take your rifle beyond 200yds with any frequency.  Otherwise, of the optics listed by the OP, I think the Gen2 Razor gets the nod for me.  Just an overall better optic package, and less expensive as well.

@UnaStamus

I just saw your replay, thank you for the valuable comments

I ran a Leupold MK6 TMR-D. It was bright enough but the illumination issue is terrible IMO makes it especially useless for using up close as a red dot, cannot afford a vanishing dot in tactical application, don't understand how it's seen such wide use by military/LE.
I have a NF NX8 & ATACR, they perform nothing like the MK6, their ILLUM is awesome, love both scopes, highly recommend the NX8 over the MK6 if weight is the main concern.
Always been a Leupold fan, still am, have a VXII for over 20 years now, have used many of their products personally and with military /government but I won't bother buying another LPVO til their ILLUM changes. The MK6 also arrived with an internally broken Illum knob (not related to ILLUM issue) I'm sure that's an unusual occurrence, they of course fixed it, their lifetime warranty is second to none.
I've really been wanting to try out the VCOG 1-8, from everything I've read it's in a different league than the 1-6 with none of its cons which I'd hope it is since USMC just picked up a big contract for it.