Oh, I totally agree. Oldelk, but with a Ziess, or Kahles, you are going to pay more for the extra feature, usally around $50 dollars I find. And I am starting to think it is worth it. As far as brighter. That depends on the yeild and quality. I am in the manufacturing enviroment. And used to buy lenses from alot of the different manufactures. Some would come in here on the hairy edge of the spec and some far exceeding the spec and should have been sold as a higher quality piece of glass.

Maybe Ziess has tighter QA than Leupold. Knowing the germs, I wouldn't put it past them. But still don't mind buying Vari X III models either. We tried this test the other night. I had a new conquest, and one of my Vari X III and set both at 10 power. Me and a buddy both tried to read a licence plate far away in low light. He couldn't tell an ounce of difference, niether could I? Then I took another Vari X III and the other one (and conquest) was much brigher. I fiddled with adjusting the focus but no dice. Just a bad yield I guess.

By the way, picked up a stainless from your recommendation on ebay. Got a 3.5-10X44 conquest for 505. Excellent choice.