Josh over at 9-Hole Reviews takes on what was once probably the open market Gold Standard of Low Power Variable Optics in the 1-8 category. The Trijicon Accupower 1-8x Front Focal Plane.
Like the Vortex Razor HD Gen II 1-6x came to epitomize what the a 1-6 second focal plane LPVO should encompass, The Accupower 1-8x came to nearly that same place with 1-8’s and first focal plane scopes. It was rugged, bright, reliable, durable, came from a known legendary name for rifle optics, and it came in affordably.
I’ve spoken on this and other scopes in other LPVO articles but haven’t highlighted the Accupower in its well earned place. The Leupold CQBSS 1-8 kicked off the genre in earnest with its bulky tank like profile and commanding price tag, but the Accupower became ‘the optic’ that also factored in price. It wasn’t/isn’t cheap, still commanding around $1,100-1,300. But that price point, parallel to the Razor and Tango6T, and the name Trijicon gave it a whole new class of accessibility. It cose what an ACOG did roughly and that linked up nicely.
Trijicon obviously also has the much more expensive VCOG models, but the cost put them out of that serious ‘everyman’ territory for LPVO glass. Now by no means does everyone spend even that much on optics and there are quality options below the $1K mark that can serve (I recommend a look at Swampfox) but those optic guys will be just as quick to point out that while their stuff is damn good for their price point, the high dollar optics are too.
The Accupower 1-8x was the ‘Everyman VCOG’, same company, very reasonable durability without that extra extra bombproof bombproofiness that put the VCOGs price point so high. Do I want my optic waterproof? Absolutely. Do I need 20 meter submersibility? No.. rain, mud puddle, and stream/pond level waterproof are perfectly fine, which the Accupower is.
The Accupower was the barrier breaking optic of the 1-8 category. It was also one of the first front focal plane optics to achieve the popularity and brightness that people were starting to want. It has been surpassed but today’s top optics will too. It is still a fine optical item.
Getting one used for a deal is a no brainer.
Buying one new? Up to you. Trijicon has since added a bunch of new optics with funny names in an attempt to… I don’t know, just confuse their consumers for fun. The “Credo” line are just Accupowers called ‘Credo’ now, because it sounds Latin or something. Offered in 1-4, 1-6, and 1-8 with SFP, SFP/FFP, and FFP reticle options for the respective powers they are set to be competitive in the field… If anyone knew what Credo meant or was.
Personally, I think the rebrand was a giant turd of a mistake when ‘Accupower Gen II’ would have communicated exactly what this line was to a loyal Trijicon fanbase. Nobody knows what a Credo, Ascent, Tenmile (I guess these see really far?), or Huron are (Huron is the Great Lake nearest to Wixom and I suppose is supposed to evoke Michigan deer hunting vibes), but everybody has heard that the Accupower’s are good to go scopes.
But then again, what would I know about communicating information to people?
