I’m not sure which Nikon Or Leupold you’re looking at but I will give my comment on the ones I do have. I have two Leupolds and one Nikon Gold and I would say that the Nikon is much clearer and brighter then my Leupold VXII or my Euro-30. Both of my Leupolds have 50mm obj. lens and the Nikon has the 42mm obj. lens. There is quite a difference in optics. I brought the scopes to work to have the guys compare and they all agreed that the Nikon had much better optics. I’m not sure if all Nikon scopes are the same but my Nikon Gold is definitely a brighter scope.

Customer service may be another issue but I haven’t had the opportunity to test either company and hope I never have to. Good luck......