I'm comparing three different scopes and just can't come up with a decision. They're all roughly the same price and all 3-9 x 40 so what do you all think between these three?

Nikon Buckmaster with BDC reticle
Bushnell Elite 4200
Leupold Vx-1

I appreciate it! It'll be atop my new TC Venture with weathershield in a 30-06 in case you're wondering!

Side by side comparison between my nikon prostaff ( a lesser scope than you mentioned by nikon ) and a leupold vx-1 proved to me that Leupold isnt all its cracked up to be, me AND the owner of the Leupold agreed that my scope was a decent bit brighter in low light conditions.

That doesnt really answer your question but something to think about.

I think you've got 3 good choices. You won't be disappointed with any of them. I've had good luck with both Bushnell and Leopold. You might check into customer service experiences with the three makers. It may come down to that

I am a Leupold fan, but you won't find any VXI Leupy's on my guns. Of the three I think the Bushnell Elite 4200 is the best choice.

If you can get the 4200 for roughly the same price as the other 2
I'd say screw the advantages of Leupold warranty and the Nikon BDC
recticle and go for the Bushnell.I don't like the Bushnell warranty at all, and I have stayed away from them because of it. But having said that,they are a very nice scope to look through and are a pretty durable scope. Actually when I purchased a few Zeiss Conquests over the holidays, I was doing some comparing between Bushnell 4200 and Zeiss and they were very very comaprable in everything and even offered some things I liked over the Ziess, but warranty on the Ziess won over.If I could of got that scope at a better deal I would have picked it up.

You are not comparing apples to apples here. Of the 3 you listed I would pick the Elite 4200. Optically it is very close or as good as the Leupold VX3. The Buckmasters would compare better to the Leupold VX2.

The VX-1 is a decent scope and would probably work just fine for 99% of hunting situations. The problem is you can get better glass for the money you will spend on it.

The Bushnell 4200 is by far the best of the ones you listed. The Nikon Buckmasters would come in second, and the VX-I last. Comparing the Prostaff to the VX-I, I found the Prostaff to be slightly better optically as the above poster did. That's just to put in comparison where the VX-I fits in compared to Nikons. The glass is really pretty lousy in the VX-I and both of the ones I've had have broken. The first one I bought new and it failed twice. The other one, failed on a friends gun and he sold it to me cheap as he didn't want to mess with getting it repaired and was tired of it. I got it fixed and re sold it. The only good thing about the cheaper Leupolds is that they do stand behind their lifetime warranty on them.

The Burris FFII is cheaper than the VX-I and blows it away. I even found it optically better than the VX-II slightly. That being said the Bushnell Elite 4200 is optically better than the FFII.

Never owned a leupold but i dont think you could go wrong with one.I own the buckmaster 3-9x40 nice scope no complaints.I own a bushnell sportview 4x32.
Had a problem with it and bushnell was fast to rectify the problem @ no cost.That scope was every bit of 10yrs. old.Very good customer service.

+1 for the Bushnell 4200 (with rainguard right ?).

One more for the Elite 4200. I bought a used 10-ML on which was mounted an Elite 4200. I intended to change it out and mount a Ziess Conquest that I had that was doing nothing. I procrastinated. Usual for me these days. I have hunted with that 10-ML/Elite 4200 now for 3 seasons. I have been impressed with the low light performance and crisp image. Other that it being sort of long, it's plenty OK. For the $$$, I think that it is a great bargain.