stubblejumper

To start with some scopes with 30mm tubes(leupold LPS for example) use the same internals as 1" scopes.Secondly 30mm tubes are used to gain more adjustment and strength and not to increase light transmission.Thirdly the worst place to compare scopes is indoors with artificial lighting such as in a store which unfortunately is the only place where most people have the opportunity compare them.You just can't see how the scopes will be in low light hunting conditions so you can't really properly assess them as most scopes will appear very similar in a building or in artificial light.The most meaningful comparisons by far will be under actuall hunting conditions in low light situations but unfortunately many people do not get this opportunity.Brightness comes from objective lens size ,lenses and lens coatings and a superior lens coatings can make a scope with a smaller objective brighter than a scope with a larger objective but lesser quality lens coatings.I have owned and compared the varixiii's,conquests and swarovski a-lines and I find the swarovskis ever so slightly brighter than the conquest and the varixiii is noticeably less bright than either of these two.In fact I find my swarovski 3x10x42's every bit as bright as the 3.5x10x50 varixiii as the superior swarovski lens coatings make up for the leupolds larger objective lens.I have also owned a swarovski 2.2x9x42 scope with 30mm tube and it was no brighter than the 3x10x42 swarovski scopes with 1" tubes that I now use on all of my hunting rifles.The bottom line is that the superior european lenses and coatings combined with a reasonably sized objective lens will result in a bright scope and a 30mm main tube is not necessary or even beneficial as far as brightness is concerned.