Bushnell Tour X optics dark?

ooshaugh1 · January 13, 2017

Anyone else noticed that the optics/viewfinder of their tour x are significantly darker than the tour v3? I really struggle in overcast or low light conditions to see pins compared with my buddies v3. Is this normal or do I have a defective unit?

Yepyukon · January 13, 2017

Not sure how you mean. The Tour X can switch between black and vivid red display. Also, if you push the "Bushnell" button logo on the side, I believe you can alter the display further.

If you mean it is darker when viewing through the magnification, I have not noticed that.

North Butte · January 13, 2017

The Tour X has 6x magnification and a 21mm objective lens diameter.

The Tour V3 has 5x magnification and a 24mm objective lens diameter.

The smaller lens of the Tour X will gather significantly less light (about 1/4 less) and then by magnifying it more, the resulting exit pupil is quite small which means (sort of) a smaller beam of light entering your eye.

In limited light conditions I would expect a 6x21 system to seem dimmer than a 5x24 one. You should not notice any difference on a bright day IMO. When it's bright your pupil is already contracted down to limit the oncoming light. But as it gets dimmer your pupil dilates. With the 5x24 optics (4.8mm exit pupil) there is more light available as your pupil opens, compared to the 6x21 (3.5mm exit pupil).

FWIW I've always found the Tour V3/Tour V2 to have a brighter and clearly image than most alternatives like the Leupolds and the Bushnell Z6 for instance. But the grandaddy of them is the Bushnell Pro 1600/Pro 1M/Pro X7 range with 7x magnification and a big 26mm objective lens. The Pro X7 is almost as nice as looking through a decent pair of compact binoculars.

ooshaugh1 · January 13, 2017

Wow thanks for the very technical answer!I can really understand what you are saying as I work with surgical loupes everyday and the greater the magnification the greater lumens of light I require to see correctly. Just wanted to check that I hadn't received a dud unit.

Have no complaints otherwise about the tour x. Very accurate and live the jolt and finding the slope function very useful as I play courses with lots of elevation changes.

Smokey227 · January 15, 2017

I came to this forum to ask the exact same question. I got the tour x for christmas and haven't had a sunny day to test it. Not having any trouble picking up the flags or distances, but it is significantly dimmer than I was used to and my friends V3. Thanks for the thorough response.