i have all leupold Vari-X II's with the exception of on my 7mm Mag. I have a zeiss conquest on that. check these out. several of them are in your price range. Mine is actually a 4.5 - 14 x 44mm which is a bit more expensive, but just to compare apples to apples, my 44mm Zeiss gathers more light than my dad's 50mm leupold vari-x III. the quality of the glass gathers more light and is a crisper cleaner look. not to mention when we are in camp, that blue "zeiss" logo on the side of it gets my gun a lot of attention! don't be fooled, it's not just a name -those things are the hot setup.

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