A 3x9 should be fine for rodents out to 300 yards. You get what you pay for with glass, so I'd certainly recommend you look through the various offerings before you simply send your credit card information to a dealer. $200 seems to be about the breaking point between decent quality and over-marketed junk.

I fall into Sheridan's realm of need, but have mitigated that problem with a good pair of binos and a gi-normous spotting scope. If prairie dogs could live on the moon.... But 300 yards, with a .223 (not much different than your .222) not a problem with 3-9x.