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Pros - Excellent durabiltiy - Good optics - Perfectly illuminated reticles Cons - Lens caps aren’t see-through - No velocity adjustment for reticle

Hey there, and thanks for coming over to this review of the Carbon Express 4×32 Pro 5-Step Lighted Crossbow Scope. Carbon Express is well known for their arrows and bolts, but did you know they also manufacture other archery accessories like scopes? Let’s take a gander at this one and see how it stacks up against the competition.

What Are the Scope’s Dimensions?

The overall length of this scope is 8.125 inches, and it features 32mm objective lenses for a little more than 1.26 inches in diameter. Carbon Express doesn’t tell us much more than that, but the scope feels like it weighs a bit more than a pound. It’s definitely a heavy scope, even for a 4X. The eye relief for this scope is a generous 3.8 inches, and the scope is dialed in to prevent parallax at up to 50 yards, which is perfect for crossbow hunting.

How Powerful Is the Carbon Express 4×32 Scope?

The 32mm objective lens on the x-bow scope gives you 4X magnification. The resolution and contrast are decent, providing a clean and clear image. You’re not looking through a Leupold here, so don’t expect it to perform like one, but it certainly provides a clean enough image to get a good kill shot on a deer or elk. I should know, I’ve bagged both (and more) using this scope.

How is the Optics Quality on the Crossbow Scope?

Once again, CX doesn’t advertise much about this scope. My guess is that it’s out of not realizing that people look for this information rather than trying to hide something, because the optics seem to be quite good quality for the price point. At a minimum, the optics are multi-coated, and they might even be fully multi-coated. To protect the lenses, you get a pair of integrated flip-open lens caps. I wish these were see-through, but they are not.

What’s the Light Gathering Capability Like on the Scope?

Light transmission on the Carbon Express 4×32 Pro scope is quite good. I’ve used this scope several times during the early morning hours with success, and I’ve found the scope to provide a very bright, clear image. The illumination settings are set almost perfectly, without any ghosting or glare during early hours but still quite readable at the height of the day.

How Wide is the Field of View?

From 100 yards, you can see a generous 28 feet of terrain. Few crossbow hunters take a 100-yard shot on a game animal, though, but simple math tells us that the field of view from 50 yards should be approximately 14 feet. I’d say that sounds about right, and I’ve found it easy to lead a deer on the move using this scope.

How Easy is the Scope to Mount?

The scope comes with a set of 1-inch pro mounting rings, making it easy to mount your scope. If you follow our instructions for mounting a crossbow scope, you should be ready to sight ’er in within 10 minutes or less. There aren’t any tips or tricks, as long as your x-bow has a Picatinny or Weaver rail. If you have a dovetail mount instead, you’ll need to get a set of 1-inch dovetail rings to go along with the scope.

How Easy is the Crossbow Scope to Sight In?

CX has produced a scope that is very easy to sight in, as long as you follow the right procedure. The reticle has five aiming points for shooting at different ranges. Unfortunately, there is no way to adjust those aiming points for crossbows of different velocities, so if you want to accurately use the crossbow at ranges other than 20 yards, you’ll have to engage in some trial and error to get the correct distances for each crosshair.

Once sighted in, the scope holds zero almost forever. I’ve literally never had to rezero the scope, and I’ve used it for several seasons. If you change crossbows, of course, you’ll have to sight it in again.

How Durable is the Scope?

Carbon Express has built this scope from aircraft grade aluminum and coated it in rubber armor for additional shock resistance. They’ve also made the scope waterproof and fogproof by sealing the lenses with O-rings and nitrogen-purging the optics chamber. Overall, I’m very happy with the durability of this scope, and have used (and abused) it for several years without any problems.