US Optics
- Thread starter TBennetti
- Start date
pointblank4445
Established
IMHO, the ST10 was the only thing they were putting out back in the day that was competitive.
20 years ago, the number of mfgs that were able to offer the feature set in "tactical" magnified optics many enjoy today was Schmidt & Bender, Premier, USO....and wayyyyy on down the line from them were Leupold Mk4. The cool thing about USO was that you got to pick a lot of your features, reticles in a made-to-order style build. They really weren't all that cutting-edge then. They stagnated, and the market caught up in a hurry (as it tends to do with technical products such as optics). With more options on the market, more enlightened and savvy consumers with the rise of PRS and longe-range shooting boom, they simply could not compete with their stagnant line and could only rest on previous reputation for so long (a rep largely from a lack of options). They really started running out of steam about 15 years ago. They also had their Unertl 10x clone for those into that kind of thing.
Tangent Theta has taken Premier's corner and their IP. S&B is still around. ZCO entered the game. Nightforce, Kahles, Leupold, and Vortex as well taking up marketshare of the USO had with better optics.
Obviously USO is still around, and have a few of their legacy scopes. Their modern "TS" series are OEM'd "overseas" (which is almost always Japan, China or Philippines)...and pricepoint ususally tells the tale of origin.
In short, capitalism at work...
shoobe01
Established
They also used to be (or be perceived to be) very very reliable, high quality and bombproof. Maybe... 10 years ago, they started to let QC slip (or, again, perceived to be) with many tales of mechanical or esp electronic failures; I recall specifically a spate of the controls for illum simply falling off and hanging out by the wires.
AFAIK this was solved around 5 years back, but the damage was done, as well as what Pointblank said about not really innovating anymore, and also some cost-consciousness so too many parts from overseas suppliers (or final assembly of some lines) so that makes many folks kneejerk reject and even badmouth them.
My first serious LPVO was a 1ish-4 back in this bad QC era and the crossbolt to mount it broke under finger tension before I even went to the torque wrench. That said they sent a new one for free immediately, and it retained the cost so I sold it for near what I paid a couple years later so within their market they do okay still.
AFAIK this was solved around 5 years back, but the damage was done, as well as what Pointblank said about not really innovating anymore, and also some cost-consciousness so too many parts from overseas suppliers (or final assembly of some lines) so that makes many folks kneejerk reject and even badmouth them.
My first serious LPVO was a 1ish-4 back in this bad QC era and the crossbolt to mount it broke under finger tension before I even went to the torque wrench. That said they sent a new one for free immediately, and it retained the cost so I sold it for near what I paid a couple years later so within their market they do okay still.
Very good points. I didn’t know if it was as simple as the company itself selling to a new owner and the new owners riding the coattails of the aforementioned reputy of the company. I didn’t even consider the lack of innovation.
It’s interesting that I’m feeling old when I’m at the range with my ST10 and young shooter asks about my rifle scope and they have never heard of USO.
It’s interesting that I’m feeling old when I’m at the range with my ST10 and young shooter asks about my rifle scope and they have never heard of USO.
