With respect to brightness. If a scope provides enough brightness to support hunting over from first shooting light to last shooting light (for Oklahoma, where I hunt big game, this is 30 minutes before sun-up to 30 minutes after sun-down), that ought to be enough. Whatbenefit does a brighter scope that supports hunting 90 minutes before sun-up to 90 minutes after sun-up provide, since the first 60 minutes and the last 60 minutes of that range are illegal for shooting? I find that the Leupold VariX III 40 mm 3.5-10X scopes allow me to readily target game 30 minutes before sun-up and 30 minutes after sun-down. I'm sure there are "brighter" scopes, but they can't provide me any additional functionality then that provided by the Leupold VariX III.
Some of us do hunt where the legal hours are from one hour before sunrise,until one hour after sunset.A brighter scope is an asset during that first and last half hour of legal hunting.I personally turned down two shots while hunting with a VXIII,that I very well may have taken with a brighter scope.
A thought about Leupold versus other makers . . . which scope is going to be more readily serviced and promptly serviced, an American manufacturer or a foreign manufacturer?
The Zeiss conquest,as well as some Swarovski scopes are assembled and serviced in America,just like Leupold.