Another vote for the Conquest. I use to be a leupold supporter and still hold the Varix III in high regard for performance and reliability. However I am not at all happy with the VX IIIline of scopes. I was very unpleased the VXIII was going to a multi-piece design from theVari X III's1 piece tube and this prompted me to start to consider the competition in its class. Optically the zeiss to my eye beats out the VXIII in all categories. I also prefer the etched reticle, zeiss reticles, constant eye relief. I currently have 4 conquests (2 - 3.5x10x44 and 2 - 3x9x40's). Nothing but good to say about the conquests.