Table of Contents
Zeiss had introduced Conquest HD5 3-15×50 more than a year back. This was their new addition to the already popular Conquest line of scopes. Though there was already Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×42 available in the market, Zeiss offered hunters with better image production capability and image brightness by incorporating a objective lens having larger diameter (50mm in place of 42mm objective lens diameter). Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50 has many advantages over its predecessor (Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×42). Not only there is a bigger objective lens (50mm lens allows much more light to pass through it than the 42mm objective lens) but also an extended exit pupil (which is 3.3mm) at highest magnification.
The 5:1 super zoom facility at Conquest HD5 scopes make this scope that more worthwhile, especially in short to medium range shooting. One of the aspects that shooters love in this scope is the availability of various kinds of reticles as well as lockable ballistic turrets. Users will get a 1 inch scope body in this riflescope along with T-coating on the lens. These features ensure that the light transmission capability along with light gathering capability improves in this scope. To enable hunters use this riflescope in all kinds of field and weather conditions, Zeiss has applied hydrophobic Lotu Tec coating on the lens, thereby making these lenses water repellant. No matter how humid the weather is or how rainy the season is, you will not find any trouble in targeting the animal behind the densest bushes.
Reticle Overview
Hunters will get three types of reticle choices with Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50 riflescope – Rapid-Z 800, Rapid-Z 600, and Z-Plex. All these three reticles work wonderfully with different types of rifles and calibers.
Let’s start with Rapid-Z 600. This reticle can be used efficiently with all standard non-magnum calibers including .270 win, 7MM-08, .308 Win, .30-06, and many more. It can be calibrated for taking shots that are 600 yards away.
Rapid-Z 800 is generally preferred by the hunters who prefer flat shooting. If you are using Weatherby type hunting calibers, ultra magnum, or magnum, Rapid-Z 800 is the perfect reticule to use. Some of the mags that you can use with Rapid-Z 800 include .338 Ultra Mag, .338 Win Mag, .338 Ultra Mag, .270 WSM, .270 Wby Mag, .300 Ultra Mag, 7MM Mag, .300 Win Mag, and others similar mags. If you want to take shots at around 800 yards or so, this reticle type can come handy because of the calibration facility to 800 yards.
The third kind of reticle that hunters prefer with Zeiss CONQUEST HD5 3-15×50 riflescope is Z-Plex, which is nothing but the duplex reticle of Zeiss.
Best Suited for…
The CONQUEST HD5 3-15×50 has been found suitable for all kinds of hunting and sports shooting. It is most suitable for target shooting, mountain hunting, and shooting in the plains. If you like stalking games and hunting, you will find this mid-range Zeiss scope to be perfect. While testing the scope, we found it to be slightly better suited for stand Dusk hunting than usual Stand Day shooting. However, this doesn’t mean that we found any problem during Stand Day shooting. We felt the optical device to be more suited for dusk because of the excellent bright images produced by the amazing Zeiss optics. If you are thinking of buying Zeiss CONQUEST HD5 3-15×50 scope for dangerous game shooting, we will recommend you against the decision because it is not meant for that purpose. You can go for other scopes of Zeiss if your primary purpose is dangerous game shooting.
During the test we found out that this riflescope is perfect for hunting deer, mule, elk, and antelope. It works superbly in low light conditions, even during sunset. This has become possible due to the incorporation of a 50mm objective lens in place of a 42mm one.
As Conquest HD5 riflescopes come with 5 Year No-Fault policy along with Carl Zeiss Limited Lifetime Transferable Warranty, customer assurance is guaranteed, giving shooters more reason to buy this around $1,000 priced riflescope.
Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50 Specifications
This riflescope comes with robust specifications that make it one of the best known mid-range scopes available at around $1,000. It comes with an effective lens diameter of 50mm and magnification range from 3x to 15x. Field of view of this scope at 100 yards varies from 34.1 feet to 6.8 feet. While the Twilight factors of this scope throughout the entire range is from 9.5 to 27.4, exit pupil diameter varies from 10mm to 3.3mm.
Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50 comes with an objective viewing angle that ranges from 6.5° to 1.3°. Other important specifications of this Conquest HD5 riflescope are 60mm objective tube diameter, 44mm eyepiece tube diameter, and 25.4mm center tube diameter. It comes with 0.25 inch adjustment per click at 100 yards, 50 yards to infinity parallax free, 3.5 inch eye relief, and water resistance up to 400 mbar under water. For making the scope fog free, Zeiss has filled the tube with nitrogen.
Application of LotuTec coating on the lens doesn’t allow water to settle on the lens. In fact, it becomes easier for the users to clean the lens easily. The riflescope remains functional from -4°F to +140 °F and therefore can be used in all kinds of field conditions, right from desert to snow capped mountain. Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50 is 13.78 inches long and weighs around 24.7 oz (without inner rail).
Testing and our Findings
We mounted the Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50 riflescope on optilocks over Sako A7 rifle. We also mounted Bushnel 6500 riflescope over another Sako A7. When compared with old Conquest, we found both the scopes to be brilliant and way better. The most notable aspect is surely the exceptional quality optics of Conquest HD5 3-15×50. When the glass is compared with that of Bushnel 6500, we found HD5 to produce better quality image. In fact, brightness of the image has been found to be way better.
While testing the scope, the locking turret feature was found to be an exceptionally helpful feature, especially hunting within the 200m range. No matter how harsh the field condition is, there is no chance of any shifting in the turrets because of the locking turret feature. Though this feature seems to be not so important one, you will feel its importance when chasing a deer on hunting field. Another aspect that we found to be a huge plus is the superb repeatability feature. Therefore, a shooter can take repeated shots at quick intervals, minimizing the chance of missing target. One thing we wanted to be better in Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50 is the clicks. They could have been more definite. However, when compared with all other scopes in the $1,000 price range, we found every scope has this problem. The only scopes that come with definite clicks are much costlier scopes of Schmidt Bender and Nightforce Optics.
There is no need of any kind of estimation guessing in this riflescope because it comes with second focal plane reticle placement. If you really want to know the range of the target’s location, just get a laser rangefinder and know the same. One of the aspects all the reviewers like about this scope is the 5x magnification range, right from 3x to 15x. However, most hunters hunt at an average magnification of around 8x. At this magnification, you will be able to get a precise target acquisition quickly. When going to hunt with this scope, zero in by setting the magnification at 8x so that it becomes the reference magnification for average shooting.
When we tried to hit a target of the size of a dime from a long range distance, we were able to do that precisely by setting the magnification at 15x. Though we were not experts of long range master shooting, we were quite comfortable in hitting the dime-sized target from pretty long range. We owed that shot to the image clarity and brightness of the glass of Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50.
Overall, our test finding gives this Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50 scope a thumbs up. We recommend our readers to give it a try if they are looking for a decent quality riflescope at a price around $1,000.
Check out the Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15×50 Scopes:
Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15X50 RZ800 522631-9982-000 Like New Demo
Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15X50 PLEX Locking 522637-9920-000
Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15X50 RZ800 522621-9982-000
Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15X50 RZ600 522631-9981-000
Zeiss Conquest HD5 3-15X50 PLEX 522631-9920-000
Comments are closed.