Swampfox Arrowhead 1-10x LPVO Review – Hands-On Test!

The Arrowhead is the flagship LPVO series for Swampfox Optics.

It’s been in the market for a good while having gained a reputation and helping to put Swampfox on the map. It’s also been combat-tested overseas.

I also personally think the Swampfox Arrowhead 1-10x is an LPVO that is demonstrating it can stand the test of time.

I probe into its optical quality, illumination, tracking accuracy, and more to determine if my musings on its timeless value is justified or if my own imaginations are getting in the way.

Let’s get on with it.  

Quick Overview...

What I Like: Optical quality

What I Don’t Like: Tight eyebox at max mag

Best Uses: Hunting, Target Shooting, Recreational Shooting, Duty Use, Home Defense, Small to Heavy Caliber, Shot Guns, SFP Reticles, Illumination

• Magnification: 1-10x
• Objective Diameter: 24mm
• Coatings: FMC
• FOV: 115.6-11.54 ft/100 yds
• Eye Relief: 3.54-3.46”
• Adjustments: 0.5 MOA or 0.1 MIL
• Dimensions: 10.91” (L) / 20.36 oz

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My Verdict: In general, the Arrowhead 1-10x is essentially a high-end scope for Swampfox at mid-range cost. It’s a smart move because it can fairly compete with more expensive LPVO scopes, but it remains affordable. Because of its quality and performance, it places above alternatives in the mid-tier sector.

Who is the Swampfox Arrowhead 1-10x Best Suited to?

The Arrowhead 1-10x24 LPVO is a heavy hitter in the industry and can absolutely be pitted against some of the best LPV scopes to date. For its price range, it’s a first-class competitor above the Vortex Strike Eagle and Primary Arms SLx and GLx LPVO scopes in my opinion.

It’s every bit a quality LPV with extra features and proven performance that makes it a first choice above alternatives. It’s worth its price point because it does everything pretty darn well. Between the configuration, reticle/turret, and illumination options available, there’s an Arrowhead LPVO that will speak to you.

When it comes to looks and performance, I like the Arrowhead more than the field-tested Warhorse FFP LPVO and the Tomahawk II (and I really like these two a lot!). Each has their own advantage to bring to the table, the upgraded Tomahawk being value and the Warhorse being an FFP LPVO.

But the Arrowhead brings the higher end of the magnification range to the table being that it’s a 1-10x. In my opinion, it’s also the most aggressive looking of them all with a heavy-duty appeal while weighing in lighter too.

So, it has quality, value, and ‘looks’ on its side, but what about accuracy? The Swampfox scope has 0.5 MOA adjustments (there is a 0.1 MIL model), and though the center dot is 0.8 MOA in size, I’d say it’s designed for more close-range work than it is for precision, even at those longer distances.

I reckon the Arrowhead 1-10x is best suited to those who want that generous magnification range. It’s great unsupported (standing, kneeling, etc.) for as far as you can be accurate like that, and it will continue to provide results with support (bipod, rests, etc.) for those longer shots.

If you’re tossing up between the Arrowhead and any other similar LPVOs for around the same price point, I’d wager the Swampfox Arrowhead offers more value and performance quality than what’s on your shortlist.

How Does the Swampfox Arrowhead 1-10x Perform?

The Swampfox Arrowhead 1-10x is a versatile scope with a wide magnification range for an LPVO. It supports both close-quarter and mid-range (up to about 800 yards with 5.56 NATO) shooting applications. For the most part, the Arrowhead does not disappoint in performance from 1x all the way to 10x.

The glass is second to none for its price point and brings with it an ease in 1x performance that’s more than suited to close quarter combat and even some hunting.

I think with 10x power, it could be a workhorse at the bench for recreational target shooting or the right competitive matches. For defense and duty work, the Arrowhead offers a generous power range for improved target identification. The reticle is simple but pronounced enough to quickly acquire while the BDC portion does not distract.

Though I found the eyebox demanding at max magnification, it’s certainly not a deal breaker as it can be worked with.

The Arrowhead 1-10x has extra features that offer great value. It has push/pull locking turrets, 12 illumination settings, intermittent off, an included throw lever, flip-up caps – it's loaded. I haven’t had any mishaps with the push/pull turrets, the illumination is above average, and the accessories work well with the scope.

Overall, between the optical quality, tracking accuracy, fortress-like build, and extra features, the Arrowhead LPVO is a quality scope that can be used in multiple applications. I feel the quality is good enough for some defense and professional work, and I also think it could do well in the hunt.

Features & Benefits

Optical Quality

The first thing I noticed is how clear the glass is. For a scope that’s been around for a while, I’m impressed that it’s reminiscent of the new Warhorse 1-6x FFP LPV that I really like. The Arrowhead appears to be just as good at 1x as the Warhorse, and I dubbed the latter a true 1x scope.

As expected, the depth of field was excellent. The slight magnification that’s observable from about 20 yards in is not unlike anything else I observe with other LPVOs. The Warhorse has the same effect too, but I’d say the optical system is just a little bit better than the Arrowhead in this comparison.  

Even so, that incredibly minor pincushion effect that you can see at the edges are a non-issue. I intentionally had to look for it with electric power lines in the FOV to see it. It’s more pronounced if you’re closing one eye at 1x, but I’m keeping both eyes open which I think is the point and a huge benefit of 1x, right? I argue that the Arrowhead is about as true 1x as an LPVO can be at this price point.  

Overall, the image quality is fantastic for both close-quarter and mid-range use. The optics have anti-reflection, anti-scratch, and hydrophobic coatings, all of which are to be expected on mid-range and high-end scopes. The real surprise is the anti-fog coating. I’d consider that a perk since I don’t know of anyone else who actually applies an anti-fog treatment to the lenses at the factory.

It is a bit hard to make out bullet holes (groupings) at the range past 50 yards on white paper. I think it was more or less the lack of focus at max power. Though overall, it's optical performance is exceptional. As far as LPVOs go, it’s as tack sharp as can be from edge to edge.

Build Quality

Swampfox scopes are tough. I’ve field-tested enough of them to know that they’re going to hold up, they’re waterproof, and the finish is unreal. I’ve drop-tested Swampfox LPVO scopes, water-tested (more like drowned them), and dust-tested them. You wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at them today.

I durability tested the Tomahawk while on the rifle and the Warhorse off the rifle (alone). I didn’t feel the need to put the Arrowhead through such torture as it’s reasonable to assume it will hold up just the same.

All the moving parts feel good. I’d say the magnification ring and illumination knob are sort of on the stiff side. The diopter is easy to use, the adjustments are satisfyingly crisp, and the locking turrets work well. I can’t make any unintentional adjustments when they’re locked in place even when I try – the fine knurling hurts when the turrets are locked!

The Arrowhead has a 30mm tube made from 6061 aluminum. It’s IPX7-rated, so it’s waterproof to handle weather and even submersion to some degree. It’s also impact tested to 1,110 G forces – yeah, it’s going to handle repeated recoil over its lifetime as well as any other scope.

As far as aesthetics go, I think the Arrowhead is one sexy scope especially when it’s paired with a beefy and sturdy mount. I’d go so far as to say the ocular bell seems oversized even for an LPVO, but it matches the slightly oversized and exposed turrets with a double layer of fine knurling. The Arrowhead has a tough and tactical magnetism about it.

I’ve always liked blacked-out logos because too much white print on a scope detracts from its overall badassery. So, Swampfox gets the balancing act right between what needs to be highly visible and what can be toned down – in this case, what can be murdered out.

Guerilla Dot BDC Long Reticle

The glass-etched illuminated Guerilla Dot BDC Long reticle is located in the second focal plane and is calibrated for the 5.56 NATO trajectory. It’s also compatible with 7.62 NATO (.308 WIN) Hornady 155 grain rounds.

I mostly used Federal 5.56 NATO XM193ML1X ammo for the majority of my range testing, and I zeroed for the 50/200-yard zero that’s recommended for the listed holdovers in the reticle manual. With that zero, you could use the Guerilla Dot BDC to go out to 800 yards! For shots pretty much up to 200 yards, you’re good off the center dot.

The Guerilla Dot is well designed for an SFP reticle with subtension thin enough to take your rounds to distance. The center dot is 0.8 MOA in size and the chevrons are 0.34 MOA thick. I’m not sure how thick the shoulder ranging bars are but they appear to be thinner than the chevrons to my eye.

I like that the reticle is clean and uncluttered. You can auto-range shoulder width (18-20”) up to 500 yards.

Overall, I find the Guerilla Dot BDC Long reticle to be easy to use. I found it very visible even in the timber and brush. The 19.1 MOA wide ring definitely makes it fast to acquire – practically instantaneous.

Illumination

The illumination quality is commendable. The Arrowhead performs much like Swampfox’s other LPVOs in that it’s brighter than many alternatives but still falls behind some of the best in the market. Still, it’s not nuclear or daylight bright, yet daylight visible is a better term to describe it.

During daylight conditions, I’ve got the illumination off as I don’t need it. The black reticle is extremely visible, and I can get away with non-illumination most of the time.

As expected, inside darker buildings like in garages, you’ll want the illumination. With that purpose in mind, the intensity differences between settings are excellent. There are 12 brightness settings, and the dim ones are well-suited to lowlight and black-out conditions.

Settings 1 and 2 are reserved for use with night vision devices. I can make out a minute amount of illumination with the naked eye which makes me wonder if it will still be alright for use with IITs. It’s not going to blow out any IITs, but you won’t be able to tone down the brightness if it comes down to it.

The illumination knob is oversized just like the turrets – I like it. It’s easy to use, is very positive to grab, and has stiff movement. The illumination isn’t going to unintentionally move even when nudged or brushed up against other gear. It doesn’t ‘catch’ on my clothing or vest gear any more than you could say about the throw lever when it's all the way to the left (max power).

It has intermittent off between each illumination intensity. I highly recommend using the intermittent off as it will save your battery. I’ve already been through a few just during field testing.

A new battery probably lasted just over a week even using manual off. To be fair, I’m putting the scope to a lot more use in any given period than the average person. There was actually a period where I forgot to turn it off (max setting!) for about 48 hours straight, and it was dead when I came back to it.

So, battery performance is about the same as any other LPVO – it sucks. Battery life is probably closer to something like 300 to maybe 600 hours at the medium/high settings.

Push/Pull Locking Turrets

I’d definitely consider the turrets on the Arrowhead to be oversized. They’re beefy and easy to use even with gloves on. The knurling is grippy, and I really like it. I’d describe it further as ‘sharp’ to aid in yielding a secure grip.

The adjustments are fantastic! They’re exceptionally crisp and tactile. If you like that loud and positive feedback from your turrets, you’ll be very pleased with the Arrowhead. At this point honestly, I’d say you can expect this kind of quality from any Swampfox riflescope.

For as crisp and true as they are, they tracked as well as I expected – pretty much as perfect as can be if you can see past user contributed error. I daresay the Arrowhead would’ve been close to dead-on at 100 yards out of the box, and I was pretty happy with its performance without even having touched the adjustments. Tightening things up for a 50-yard zero and box test, the 1-10x LPVO did really good in the likes of my hands.

Setting the turrets to your zero is ridiculously easy. You can reset zero for both the elevation and windage turrets. Speaking of the windage turret, it’s also exposed like the elevation turret. I like that Swampfox gave it a push/pull lock as well. It ain’t moving without your say so.

The push/pull locking turrets are the same design and quality as what’s on the field-tested Tomahawk II and Warhorse scopes. I like the ‘pull’ part of it, but the ‘push’ part isn’t as snappy as I’d like it to be, so I overcompensate for this by smacking it down.

Really though, I’m not messing with my turrets too much on an LPVO, even a 1-10x. I go with the 50/200-yard zero and I’m good for most purposes. I like the high power (up to 10x) for better target identification, but it’s especially needful if I’m going to distance with it.

Mounting

Mounting the Arrowhead 1-10x24 LPVO is uncomplicated. I happen to think that the lightweight Swampfox Freedom mount is perfect for it. It puts the scope at a 1.6” height with a 2” offset that fits nice and snug with no movement on a Pic rail.

There’s a lot of contact between the Freedom mount and the Pic rail. You have the two Torx screws and the two integrated recoil lugs that hug the rail. Those bottom T25 Torx head screws are torqued down to 30-40 in-lbs, and I did somewhere in the middle, about 35 in-lbs. The ring screws are T10, and I get those torqued down to 15 in-lbs.

From the start of my field testing with the Arrowhead, I haven’t taken it out of the mount once. It’s consistently been on and off rails (rifles and digiscoping rig), but I haven’t taken it out of the actual mount. Those tiny T10 screws are still torqued down, and I haven’t had to tighten anything up once, and no I didn’t use any additional Loctite (even though they already had a little bit of it from the factory).

I, for one, want the entire package from a scope mount. I want it to be really good at its job and to look good while doing it. Yeah, there are ugly mounts out there that can get the job done just as well or better, but it doesn’t mean I want it.

I like the look of the Freedom mount. It’s skeletonized but simultaneously brawny in appearance. It has Swampfox’s logo laser-etched into the top rings and just enough white print to let you know it’s a Swampfox mount.

Combined with its performance during this field test and the Tomahawk II, I recommend it if you’re after a one-piece cantilever mount – psst, even if you’re not putting a Swampfox scope in it!

Accessories

Swampfox includes a couple accessories with the Arrowhead LPVO. In the box is a power throw lever with the appropriate wrench and an extra set of screws for it. Attached to the scope are flip-up caps. Other miscellaneous items include an oversized microfiber lens cloth, battery, and manuals.

The flip-up caps are awesome. They’re Swampfox’s standard flip-up caps that come with all their LPVO scopes. They’re snappy, they stay in place, and they do their job. The rear cap does move the diopter, so you may need to put a little tape on the ocular end to keep it from moving when the rear cap is on the scope.

The power throw lever is detachable and has the thread-in connection. Between Swampfox’s band levers and this thread-in one, I prefer the latter. It’s a 4-point thread-in lever with 3 position options along the magnification ring. It’s not too tall, and it’s very rigid to grab and push or tug on.

I did notice that the objective end is threaded possibly for an aftermarket sunshade, however a sunshade isn’t included with the scope.

Limitations of the Swampfox Arrowhead 1-10x

Tight Eyebox at Max Mag

It’s easy to get behind the Arrowhead because the eye relief is actually very long, seemingly longer than its 3.5”-ish listed spec. However, the eyebox becomes an issue at max 10x, and with a SFP reticle, there’s a compromise or two to make.  

At 10x, the eyebox becomes quite stringent in forcing you to be perfectly behind it. Even when you get right down the optical plane, the focus becomes a bit bleary. Other than making it difficult to see bullet holes on paper, it was acceptable for most other purposes.

I felt like the relationship between image quality and eyebox comfort is phenomenal all the way to 6x. At 7and 8x, it’s still great but you start to detect its optical limitations. At 9 and 10x, I figure it requires intentional effort and time to maintain the balance between optical focus and staying inside the eyebox.  

For this reason, I’d say if you’re using a 50/200-yard zero (recommended zero), you could very well get away with only cranking up the mag to about 8x using only the center dot and you won’t be maxing out the optical system.

If you’re going past 200 yards, you’ll need to use the BDC holdovers and be at 10x for that. For those long shots, I’d say it would be better if you’re at the bench, using bipod or rests, or in some sort of position that gives you time to get aligned behind the Arrowhead at max mag. A benefit to this is that it will very well reduce parallax at those significant distances since it’s fixed at 100 yards.

Overall, I’d recommend finding that balance between focus and the magnification range via the diopter to help compensate for the optical decline at the higher powers. I also think you can find that sight picture at 10x easier and faster with training. I mean, if an army weapons specialist combat-tested this very scope for 800 meters plus, I am definitely whining.

Popular Questions About the Swampfox Arrowhead 1-10x

Timeless Quality: Deserving Praise for the Arrowhead LPVO

For a somewhat ‘old-ish’ scope (more than a few years old), the Arrowhead is still extremely relevant with everything it has to offer.

When it came out, it was the bee’s knees because Swampfox provided exactly what we all wanted from an LPVO – glass-etched and effective reticle for both CQB and range, clear and sharp glass, intermittent off, exposed turrets (bonus: they lock too!), etc. The only thing against it was unnecessary anxiety because Swampfox Optics was fairly new.

That’s no longer a concern given that Swampfox has expanded their inventory, continued to compete aggressively in the industry, and provides duty-grade quality optics at affordable prices without compromise.

The quality, performance, and features that made the Arrowhead 1-10x a great scope then are still very much the reasons why it’s a great scope now.  

A huge shoutout of thanks to Swampfox Optics for sending me this riflescope to field test. Please note, even though this product was provided by the manufacturer, all opinions expressed are my own and not in any way influenced by any manufacturers.

Further Reading

• Monstrum Marksman 3x30 (P330-B) Review – RANGE-TESTED!
• Monstrum Blackbird 3x30 Prism Scope Review – Range Tested!
• 1-6x VS 1-8x LPVO Scopes – Which is Right for You?
• Swampfox Arrowhead 1-10x LPVO Review – Hands-On Test!
• Swampfox Warhorse 1-6x24 FFP LPVO Review – Range Tested!