I used to be a die hard leupold man, until recent quality issues have turned me off. the Leupold Rifleman and vx1 are no good IMHO. You have to go with at least the VX2 line and I prefer the VX3.

Bushnell 4200 and 3200 elites are very high quality, especially for the money.

I recently purchased a Nikon for my sons first rifle. I spent around 150 for it and I'm very impressed with the quality.

Weaver makes very good scopes as well, especially the Grandslam series.

IMHO the best value out theree is the Zeiss Conquest 3x9-40mm for $399. This is an unbelievable value for excellent equipment.