I have bought a ton of Leupold scopes in the past and I will not touch another ever again irregardless of what John Barsness rants about. Here is why...Their Vari-xIII line was grossly overpriced for what you were getting. They then try to compete with Zeiss Conquests with the new VX-III and actually claim that they are getting 98% light transmission on some models. No german or any other foreign manufacturer of scopes and optics even claims something like that. The fact they haven't been called on that fact is pretty surprising. Now the VX-III's are 3 piece per John Barsness and he says it makes no difference. I guess Zeiss,Swarovski,Burris,Bushnell and a few others must be stupid since they make 1 pc bodies. If you contact Leupold you get different stories on this once they claimed they were 1 pc but now say 3pc.

So to make a long story short if the Vari-xIII optics are now being put in the New VX-II that is a 3pc tube why would anyone buy a VX-III if that were the case? They didn't make the VX-III any better then the original VAri-xIII just made some changes to adjustment dials and eyepiece plus made it a 3pc tube to boot. If I had to buy a Leupold I would buy the VX-II only and no others in that lineup.