How do you quantify one scope having more clarity than another. If it is a judgement call then any one could be equal to another. I've sat in front of the scope counter at the local gun shop, large selection of scopes, set the scope in the stock, viewed and jumped from one to the next and back again with my evaluation changing from one viewing to the next. This is very subjective.

I do agree low end scopes are not equal to upper end scopes since I have had low end fail on me. Once you reach five bills it is difficult to separate anything in that class of scopes. Most of this is personal preference built from research, positive and negative field results, or a buddy saying how good his purchase was (using the same criteria). Also the negative encounters with an equal value scope could be part of a ~2% failure rate expected in manufacturing. There are some escapes.

Could it be there is no one great scope but personal preference which gives the individual confidence.