Minox ZP5 5-25X56
In the years that I’ve been shooting rifles in the context of what we now call “precision rifle”, I have mostly been making my eyes accustomed to glass that some may consider average, sub-par or bargains. This article is not to take away from the merits and the values of these types of optics, but rather to discuss something that nearly all of us understand. Some products are, simply put, a cut above the rest. With this in mind, I’m going to discuss this upper tier model regardless of other tiers or styles of optics. Also, any comparisons made for reference in this article will be to optics within the same class, or above.
Background
Since 2014 I have owned several optics, each additional optic usually a step above the last in my own estimations. My first optic that actually had exposed tactical or target turrets that could be fairly well repeated was an SWFA fixed 10 power scope that had a MIL dot reticle and MOA turrets. The image in the glass wasn’t spectacular, but it tracked very well and I shot what I considered to be very impressive groups at varying distances at that time.
While talking gear with other shooters during that time, I would always wonder what it was like to use a “high dollar” scope and I would also wonder if it was worth it for the average shooter. I would think, “I wish I could get my hands on some of that German Schmidt & Bender action!”, or some other pipe dream. I would imagine at that time that there was no way I could ever afford such a thing, let alone on top of a high dollar custom rifle with all the trimmings.
I was wrong. Technology changed. My situation changed. As time passed I accumulated gear and finally had a respectable custom competition rifle set up the way I wanted it. Not quite with German glass, but close. Then I got a text from a friend.
He said he had won an optic at a match and was hoping to sell it at a good price, and as a good friend of mine, he knew I was going to be interested. He told me he had German glass! I thought, “Finally, it’s going to be my time to upgrade to a Schmidt!” In my mind in those earlier days, Schmidt was, after all, the cream of the crop. Not quite what he was pushing however, he told me it was a Minox 25 power and that the glass quality was right up there with the greats we had all known and talked about. Great! But I knew nothing about Minox. I had maybe heard of the brand name, but I hadn’t seen one of their scopes in the wild, at a match, or anywhere else!
As an upper pack shooter, he informed me that in his opinion, Minox had glass and scope quality equal to that of Schmidt and Bender, and possibly nipping the heels of Tangent Theta which seemed to be at mythical status even just 2 years ago. I was intrigued. So I drove the four hours to meet my friend for lunch and to see the scope. It looked great initially so I handed him a wad of cash and headed home. This was the first high end scope with German glass that was actually my own.
That was a year and a half ago or so, and I’ve had quite a bit of time behind this ZP5 since.
With all that being said, one can see that I have no relationship with Minox as a company. I spent my own (hard earned) money on this unit. With this in mind, I treat the scope as such. I do not abuse it with carelessness, but I also do not baby it by leaving it in the safe. I use it nearly exclusively at this point for competition shooting.
Initial Impressions
My initial thoughts on the scope at that time were that the glass was simply amazing and I liked the fine clicks of the turrets. I also took directly to the MR4 reticle, which has a very similar two tenth sub-tension look as my favorite reticle, which is Burris and Steiner’s SCR.
This wasn’t enough to get a feel for the scope, however. Of course, I would have to get hundreds, perhaps thousands of rounds down range through it before I understood what it was all about and if it was going to hold up to my expectations and my initial impressions.
The first impression is always important, but most of these scopes in this price and quality range that are purpose built for competitive or tactical shooting are usually similar. The ZP5 does have the look one would expect with the large turrets, matte finish and large objective lens. There isn’t a huge amount of branding on the unit itself. The Minox name shows in a silver finish on either side of the ocular tube, and “Made in Germany” on the circumference of the objective bell. Otherwise, there are white numbers around the magnification ring, and white numbers with hashes around the turrets; nothing flashy. I prefer most things to be aesthetically subdued anyway, so that’s a nice draw for me to this scope.
Magnification Ring
The magnification ring is easy to manipulate. There is a pronounced hump in the ring for tactile feel and grip, otherwise the rest of it is mostly smooth with a satin finish. The resistance to turn the magnification ring is nearly perfect in my opinion, while some shooters may find it to feel “loose”. However, I prefer that slick feel as opposed to a stiff crank. Also, the ring turns freely and independent from the ocular lens end, which is a plus for me. I cannot stand scopes that have my scope cap turning everywhere as I adjust magnification.
Also, while moving from low magnification to high I do not see any tunneling effects. The Schmidt PM2 seems to be infamous on this point, but the Minox has the image from edge to edge and then increases magnification. No toilet paper tubes here!
Turrets
Tons of scrutiny and emphasis is placed on a scope’s turrets and with good reason; this is where your body contacts and interacts with the scope the most. I do like the size of the knobs, which are a rather large diameter-wise in comparison to, say, a Schmidt PM2. They are also short, in comparison. Getting that wide purchase on the turret is satisfying to my hand and the clicks are fine with not a very loud click, but still far enough apart to distinguish the tenth mil detents from each other.
However, I do feel as though sometimes these clicks can feel “mushy” and yet tactile at the same time. At times, while dialing up on the elevation turret I distinctly feel the detents , but as I arrive near my required elevation and stop at a tenth, I’m almost not quite sure if I’m in between hashes or not. It’s difficult to explain, but I’m not sure if it’s something to do with the manner in which the hashes are etched into the turret, the mechanism, or both. It’s something that I realized early on and have become accustomed to, and I don’t think I have made too many incorrect dials because of it.
The knurling has a square and checkered look to it that isn’t as swoopy or curvy as some of the modern scopes, but it has a unique look and feel and provides excellent traction to bare hands without causing irritation.
Another aspect of the elevation turret I don’t care for is the “tactile” revolution indicator. When the shooter approaches one revolution of the elevation turret, the resistance to the turn increases so that the shooter can “feel” that region of the turn. This space is roughly 2 mils wide. The problem is, if you ever dial that high, it’s harder to dial to your specific tenth when it’s so stiff because you will skip past by a few tenths. If I had a choice, I would prefer that there were no tactile turn indicator, as there is a visual indictor window that turns from black to white to indicate the first revolution.
Speaking of revolutions, I find the font and style of the turret very easy to read and understand intuitively and the numbers above the first turn indicators are easy to transition to after a revolution. The elevation turret is 15 mils per revolution. At the “zero” point, there is not just a number zero; there is a delta triangle pointing down, which is opposite of the dial indicator delta that points up. Imagine two triangles aligning at their points. So, much like aligning combat sights on a pistol, it’s easy to zip back down to zero when you see the two large delta points are aligned. This can be done easily while the rifle is not shouldered or while behind the optic.
There is a zero stop design, as with most scopes, where you loosen the Allen screws on the perimeter of the turret and turn until the deltas are aligned, and retighten. Its fast, simple and I’ve had no trouble with it so far.
The tracking and repeatability of the elevation movement have been perfect thus far. In fact, I’m more confident with this optics’ tracking ability in concert with my bullet data than I have ever been- and that’s a comfortable feeling.
The windage knob has the exact same font as the elevation turret, with deltas as well, but it does have “L” and “R” indicators for dial direction. Since I like the elevation turret aesthetic, I like the windage too. However, I rarely ever move it from its zero position in most circumstances.
The parallax knob on the left side of the scope has very similar knurling as the other two knobs. The reticle illumination is controlled on the crown of the parallax knob, with half detents between intensity numbers being “off” positions. The parallax knob, unlike lower cost optics, actually does something. Targets, terrain, and animals can be easily brought into focus. I have noticed that the point at which the target becomes crisp and in focus, the scope is either parallax free or very close to it. I like this because it just makes it faster to remove parallax while under pressure. Then, if I need to nudge the knob to get that last bit of reticle movement out, I can do so quickly.
I don’t care for the level of resistance of the parallax knob as much as I do many of the other optics I’ve used; it’s as though it’s just barely too much resistance. I often use my right hand to reach over the top of the optic to adjust parallax while maintaining a sight picture with my support hand remaining on my rear bag or rear support. The amount of force needed to turn the parallax knob makes it difficult to stay on target sometimes. If Minox could find a way to take that resistance down about 20%, I think it could be nearly perfect.
Glass
Speaking of focus clarity, the sight picture through this ZP5 is amazing. In nearly all conditions in my familiar stomping grounds, I find it to be superior image clarity to nearly any other scope I’ve used. I place this second to my Schmidt & Bender PM2, but it is a very close second. This was also after a couple shooting sessions where I had both optics side by side and the Schmidt was able to resolve targets just slightly better to my eye.
Most optics or manufacturer lines seem to have a strong point in certain color ranges or strong color representations in those color ranges with less chromatic aberration. This causes picture color and shades to vary between models. To those familiar with the images seen through the Vortex Generation 2 Razor HD, you know that the colors of the environment really tend to pop and be vibrant. In the Minox ZP5, my eye tends to see a more muted image without so much color saturation, but the clarity is noticeably better. This makes seeing literal impacts easier to see on steel. It makes seeing trace in dry conditions easier. There were a couple of instances where I would be looking through another optic and just seeing a grey or white target, and then looking through the Minox side by side and actually resolving pock marks in steel at around 450 yards.
While I find the clarity preferable, I do enjoy color saturation as well- which is where I feel the glass and its coatings fall short. I find the Schmidt PM2 5-25X56 to be a culmination of the Razor’s color (mostly) and the clarity of the Minox (only slightly better), just as a comparison reference. I noticed that maybe only in two instances I could quickly see chromatic aberration while looking at nearly black objects in bright sunlight, but this has not been the norm. I’m not an optics expert, but I know manufacturers must choose between color image, brightness and acceptable amounts of aberration. So, if one prefers clarity, this may be the best bang for the buck at this “tier” of manufacturers. There’s no such thing as having your cake and eating it too, but if you want to get close, you’ve got to spend more cash.
Protection
The ZP5 came with Tenebraex pop-up lens covers installed. They are very rugged yet flexible. I’ve gotten the caps snagged on gear and barricades while they were open and they simply flex around, but do not rip away from the scope.
The Tenebraex have a two-piece design. One ring attaches to either open end of the scope, and then the cap, spring and additional ring snap over it. The pop-up cap is rotatable to be clocked into a position of the shooter’s choice.
So far I’ve been very impressed with these caps and they have already outlived any other brand name caps I have used.
Reticle
The MR4 reticle is quickly becoming my new favorite. I like the floating dot at the cross hairs, the two tenth alternating hashes and the subdued Christmas tree. I do not often use hold overs if I have time to dial, but I do use the scope to kill coyotes during calling competitions and have smoked my fair share of them using holdovers in this reticle. I also really like the separate scale in the upper right quadrant of the reticle that allows the shooter to measure targets down to the tenth of a mil in either horizontal or vertical fashion.
The reticle on the model I have is illuminated as mentioned before; I wouldn’t be completely bothered if the scope didn’t have this feature, but I do find myself using it sometimes at dusk or later while getting in a late range session or while hunting during short days. The illumination is crisp and will get intense enough to see the red glow during a bright Colorado afternoon.
Verdict
The ZP5 is rugged. Ultimately this is an attribute that is most important in addition to other features. The turrets, glass, and aesthetics mean nothing if the optic won’t survive heavy usage. I still have not lost zero between competitions or while the rifle rode around in my truck or during practice. I have some light scratches in the finish of the unit from some of the metal fasteners on my sling. I think they are surface marks and may even disappear with a thumb-rub, but it doesn’t seem to bother me enough to mess with. It still tracks, looks, and fairs well.
Overall, I have really enjoyed using this optic. Even with a couple of the shortcomings I mentioned above, I still like it more than any other scope I’ve used and it feels like a staple of my kit. I do occasionally use my Schmidt and Bender PM2 on my backup/hunting rifle and enjoy it as well. But the fact that the Minox stays on my main competition rifle speaks volumes to the package as a whole. I hope to be using the ZP5 for years to come.