hometheatreman,
You seem to take every opportunity to badmouth leupold scopes. I believe that you have had problems with one, but I am sure that given the opportunity, Leupold will do whatever it takes to make it right. You need to get over it, because it makes your opinions on every other topic seem suspect to those who have real experience with leupold. For every dissatisfied leupold customer, there are probably at least 98 who have had trouble free service. A return rate of more than 2% would be death in today's competetive environment.

Let me tell you of my experiences with Leupold scopes (we also have Zeiss and Bushnell on various rifles). Currently, we have 2-VX-I, 4-Vari-x-II, and 2 Vari-X III on various rifles. Not one has given a singleproblem. Since you had a VX-I, let me tell you about one of our VX-I's, a 3x9x40. This scope is on my farm beater gun, a Howa .243, and seldom sees the inside of the house. It lives either in the garage, pickup, oron my ATV. At this time of year, every day for more than 3 months, I run a 2 mile long trapline on my property. The law requires a 24 hour check, so I am out at dawn every day. That rifle with VX-I rides in the open rack on my 4-wheeler, and has for more than 4 years. It sees freezing temps, rain, sleet , snow, mud and plenty of vibration. It has never changed zero, or given any other problem.

Every company has occasional problems, even Zeiss and Swaro. The best companies knock them selves out to provide quality customer service when necessary.