Of all the new products at SHOT Show, only one new product made me say “****, I never knew I needed this, but I do”. That product was the Leupold D-EVO Scope and so I am declaring it “the most impressive new product at SHOT Show 2015”. (This is my personal opinion. This award was not bought or paid for).

At first glance the D-EVO may look like it might be a gimmick, and if the optic design was not so finely tuned it could have been. It allows the user to to switch between a zero magnification optic to a magnification optic with no muscle movement, something no other dual scope systems allows. Switching between the two scopes simply takes an almost instantaneous eye movement. I expected to have trouble changing focus between the two sights, but I had none. I was able to quickly acquire and reacquire a target by shifting my eye from one scope to the other.

When aiming at a distant target the red dot can be used to get your crosshairs on target, and then you can switch to the D-EVO to make precise adjustments before firing. This allows a target to be acquired with the speed of a red dot and the precision of a 6x power scope.

I managed to get a photo showing both recitals

In theory the D-EVO can be used with non-Leupold red dot. Understandably Leupold did not display the D-EVO mounted next to their competitors’ sights at SHOT Show. I suspect it does not work as well as it does with non-Leupold red dot sights. If the red dot was mounted too high or too low it would make switching between them frustrating.

Leupold D-EVO being used with the new Leupold LCO red dot.

I plan on purchasing a D-EVO along with the new Leupold LCO (Leupold Carbine Optic). The combination (pictured above) works very well. The D-EVO MSRP is $1,874.99 and the LCO MSRP is $1,249.99. Both can be purchased cheaper if you shop around online.