With Luepold, the VX-l is my first choice. The Rifleman were on sale at Walmart and were a good value.

At Midsouth the Vari-Xl is two dollars less than the Riflemen.

Right. However, Walmart had them 30 percent off. I bought one for my 308 and one for the shelf. The one on the 308 has been a very good performer. The one on the shelf works great too.

I prefer a "fully multicoated scope as opposed to a multi-coated scope (like the rifleman). And I stay away from chinese made optics (or Chines made anything escept silk and woks).I also prefer US made (higher end Leupold, Burris signature, and Redfield), Japanese (Bushnell elite, Burris, Nikon Monarch or Better, or Sightron, etc), or European scopes (Docter, Zeiss Conquest, IOR for the cheaper ones).
I think the best deal in the scope world right now is probably the Sightron SII 3-9x42 with NO ADJUSTABLE OBJECTIVE! you can get this one for around 200 bucks. Probably as good as the VXII as to optics but I don't know about durability and customer service. The Bushnell elite 4200 is an awsome scope. The Burris full field alot of scope for the money. But the Nikon Monarch and the VXII by Leupold reign supreme for the 300 dollar range.
I just feel that scopes have gotten so cheap and good lately that there is no reason to settle for a bad scope. If you are willing to spend 200-300 bucks, you can get a scope that will be 90% as good as the best out there.

I agree on the 200.00 part.Thats my limit until price raises force me to go a bit higher. I will be happy using my Aetecs for many years yet. I may try a new one but I hate that they dropped the 5 inch eye relief. I liked that.

Thanks everyone for replying!

If you were looking at the Rifleman (same as a VX1) I'd seriously consider the Nikon Prostaff.. they normally run about $150 for a 3-9x40 and when compared side by side... the Prostaff is much clearer and brighter.

I'm no expert on scopes but I've found that Leupold has the MOST eye relief and the relief it offers is also much less critical and much more forgiving than almost everything else I look through. I do notice some other scopes are a tiny bit brighter. But they also have much less eye relief and the operating relief has a narrow margin of error.
I think Leupold offers the most value, for me, since eye relief is very important to me.
My hunting guns get their fair share of knocking around during the season. The Leupolds on my rifles haven't skipped a beat...yet.

Nor have my Aetecs and have even more eye relief. At least they did until this year.[:@]They no longer have the five inches of eye relief.

Are the older Aetecs with the greater eye relief from a particular assembly plant? Were they produced in a certain location and the newer ones are now made elsewhere?
I only ask because I had heard multiple rumors that Simmons scopes produced in the Phillipines were of good quality.