Guess I'm in oldelkhunter's camp on this one. Even though I used nothing but Leupolds for 20+ years, I consciously resist buying them now unless I have to, like if a mounting issue won't allow me to use anything else. I just prefer the superior optics of Zeiss, Swarovski, etal and don't want to settle for less. I bought a VX III last year on the hopes that Leupold had closed the gap, but after trying it out for about a month I ended up selling it. In my opinion it was not a great advancement over the Vari X III as their advertising claimed and it certainly wasn't as good as the Conquests I compared it to.

There's no doubt Leupold makes a good scope. I guess I've just graduated from what Leupold considers good and prefer something better now.