I bought the scope to replace a Neith I bought several years ago. I wanted a digital scope to watch and record my kids deer hunting. I like being able to coach them through taking the right shot, and being able to rewatch to make sure they made the shot before we go looking. I bought them each Tikka T3X Hunters in 243 Win. With the form factor of the Neith, I had to get an extended pic rail turned backwards to get the proper eye relief. It worked great, but I constantly worried the unsupported pic rail would get bumped and lose zero. The pic rail extension just didn’t have much meat to it. When I saw the Spectrum 4k Mini, I thought it would be the perfect upgrade!
Out of the box, the clarity was a HUGE upgrade over the Neith. Not quite to the clarity of Leopold VX3HD 3.5-10x40 on my oldest’s gun, but honestly closer than I expected! Unfortunately, even though it was built with the traditional scope form factor the “mini” design left the eye relief a little short on the Tikkas, especially for the kids. Thankfully with the more traditional form, I was able to order an extended one piece mount a mount it backwards instead of the extended rail. In keeping with the budget/mid value build, I went with the PRI Extended Low rail to get the best combo of scope height and extension at decent price. The mount was ALMOST perfect. It was much thicker than the pic rail, eye relief was perfect, BUT since it was turned backwards and the low height selection, the front bell of the scope was hitting. I used the Dremel and a cutoff wheel (close to the diameter of the scope’s front bell) to remove some material. After a couple of test fits we were good to go. (You could probably slide the scope forward on the mount and not have to remove the material, but since my kids are still pretty small I wanted to get the scope as far back as possible on full size rifle stock). The mount is still MUCH thicker than the extended pic rail, and I have more confidence the kids or I won’t knock the zero off as easily carrying their gun to the blind. The 4k Mini is lower and clearer than the Neith was, and with a little time and effort fitting our needs closer to perfect than I would have ever expected.
As a side note, the 4k Mini does have a smaller objective lens than the 4k LRF. Therefore, it does give up SOME extended twilight viewing time (still past legal hunting time in Texas so keep an eye on the clock). Obviously, it also gives up the LRF and corresponding ballistic calculator, but for a school teacher trying to help his kids be successful from the deer blind, at half the price of the LRF I would definitely do the Minis again!
Lastly a big thank you to Outdoor Legacy for their knowledge, and willingness to answer all of my over analytical, high school physics teacher questions, and for getting the scopes to my door quickly and in time for a Merry Christmas!
Hope this review helps, and God bless you all.
PS
After speaking with Mikayla (sp?) at Outdoor Legacy, I have also posted this review on their Google Reviews with a few pictures added.