RE: What's The BEST Model Light Gathering Scope?
It seems to me that in Europe, where in a number of countries you can hunt at night (such as shooting boar from the Hocksitz with snow on the ground and moonlight), scopes are rated for night use by what they call the "twilight factor". Not only does this factor depend on excellence of optical quality, but also on power and objective lens size.
One of the best in this regard is the 8X56mm size fixed-power scope which gives the maximum useable 7mm exit pupil, besides being of relatively high magnification.8X56mm scopes made by Schmidt & Bender, Zeiss, Leitz, Khales, Swarovski, Meopta, and perhaps several others as well, are pretty much all acceptable for this use. However, I do not know how available this size scope is in the U.S. today, as most US hunters are looking for a variable of some sort. IMO, a variable cannot be made to be as good in this respect as a high-magfixed power with a big objective.