Schmidt and Bender,Zeiss and Swarovski are so close it would indeed take someone with lots of experience at the wheel using all three to even tell a scintilla of difference. Schmidt makes a great scope but the lenses come from elsewhere. Zeiss and Swarovski make their own lenses. Schmidt is a heavier scope then the other two. I spoke to the optic guy at Marks outdoors in Birmingham Alabama a few years back and asked him this same question. His answer was that he had been a Schmidt user for years and tried out a Zeiss VM and was amazed at the scope..brilliant compact and lightweight. If I had to buy one myself It would be the VM no questions asked. All in All the three brands are best of the best