Others have more experience and knowledge about this subject than I do, but this won't prevent me from throwing in my thoughts.

I have three VariX-III 3.5-10x 40 mm scopes and one VX-III 3.5-10x 40 mm scope. They each cost me about $475. My experience with these is that it gets too dark to hunt (after legal shooting hours are closed)before the light gathering ability of the scopes let me down. Thus, a "brighter" scope than these would provide me no practical advantage. The image I see in the scope is crisp and free of obvious optical faults -- no fuzzing when looking towards bright light, no distortion of an image across the field of view, no color separation. The scopes work for big game hunting, my application.

I have never had a problem with these scopes, but I believe that if I had a problem (1) the Leupold warranty would strongly support the scope repair and (2) that I could get rapid response in any place in the US. I wonder how quickly I could get response for failed German glass in Gillette, Wyoming or Cody, Wyoming, or some other big game hunting venue?

But another way of looking at it is that, probably, when you pay above a certain amount of money -- maybe more than about $350 -- any scope you buy is likely to provide good service for big game hunting and also be robust and reliable. If I were to suggest areas for caution it would be choosing unorthodox scope specifications -- for example choosing a 6-24x for a .338 Winchester Magnum may be a mistake, in that the reticle may be stressed for lighter weight cartridges and might be less reliable than a 2-7x scope for the .338 Winchester Magnum. Also, be mindful of the drawbacks of something like an oversized objective -- raises the line of sight slightly, sticks out more, heavier weight -- or large adjustment knobs on tactical style scopes -- may more readily catch on brush when slung on the shoulders. I'm not saying these are total deal breakers . . . just take these issues into consideration.