VX-3L why arent they popular?

Looking at buying a leupold for my 264wm. The new VX-3L dont SEEM to be very popular. Are they tooo dear for what they are? Are they a gimick?

Limited accessories could be a reason. The strange shape of the lens does not lend itself to common add ons like Butler Creek lens covers.

It sits in a market heavily populated by very, very good scopes.


I hear good things, but have moved away from Leupold due to tactical scope failures in my hands.  I'm not a "second-chance" kinda guy.

Originally posted by 3_tens Limited accessories could be a reason. The strange shape of the lens does not lend itself to common add ons like Butler Creek lens covers.

Leupold thinking "outside the box", I think it's a pretty good idea that's still a little ahead of it's time.

For me, I'm with Lile that I would be more concerned about accessories. Where we hunt I'm using a sun shade a lot, when we get a little rain on go the Butler Creeks.

I've had fairly good luck with Leupolds and while the VX3L looks different it is actually quite practical allowing a large objective to mount closer to the barrel to provide a better cheekweld.  It is a solution to a very real problem irregardless of how it may look different it works.   The issue with objective size is related to  how bright a scope is in low light. The larger the objective the more magnifiication it will allow you to use in low light.  A 6x42 has a 7mm exit eye pupil  and is bright.  a 50 mm objective will be just as bright at 7 X and a 56 mm objective will be just as bright at 8X.   So if you are buying a 6.5-20x ? you can benefit from having the larger objective and the L models will lay closer to the barrel than the competiition with the same size objective. 

Originally posted by Roy Finn I can honestly say that to date, I have not owned a rifle I dislike enough to put a VX-L on. Leupold's solution to a problem that doesn't exist.