I've alwaysbeen a Leupold person myself.I have 3 var XII and1 VarXIII.My bro inlaw has the zeiss conquest. It is very nice and has good light gathering at dawn and dusk.I wouldn't say its any better or worst than my leupold. The only Nikon I've had experience with is the one on my wifes A-bolt .243 (2x7x40 monarch). Its a piece of junk in my book. I never have to resight my Leupold between seasons but every year that nikon is off.

I just bought a new Model 70 300wsm this past week and decided to stray from the Leupold and go with a Meopta Meostar. Meopta has been aroundfor close to 80 yearsand recently started developing hunting scopes. Looking at the optical charts on them they have the same coatings and parameters of the Swarski's and Zeiss Divari's for almost half the price. This will go up soon due to them beingmarked for market entry pricing. I got mine for around $600 tax and all. It was a last years stock and they were getting this years stock in, which will be marked for $799, and they gave me a deal on it. I've taken the meoptaand held them up at dusk next to the leupold and zeiss and it seemed as clear if not clearer than the zeiss and way clearer than the Leupold. I shot mine this past weekend and it is rock solid. I was shootingpenny size groupings off a rolled up towel on a bench at 100yds. 3x12x56 Meostar w/4B recticle.(3 heavy bars and 1 thin up top).
You may want to hunt one of these down and give it a try before you make your decision.