I am looking at the sales on the NIkon rifle scopes and am curious if anyone has experience on the NIkon Prostaff 5 or the new Prostaff 7.
The 5 offers illuminated BDC or Nikoplex reticle and it seems that the 7 offers a a 30mm tube. for a $10.00 difference you can get the 7 vs the illuminated reticles. Do you think the 7 is the overall better of the two minus the illuminated reticle. Will the 30mm tube make up for the light transmission vs the 1"tube

How much are you looking to spend? What zoom range? Would you need new rings with 30mm tube?

Tube body diameter doesn't affect the light transmission. Transmissivity at the micro scale is a factor of the glass quality and the coatings. The light transmitted to your eye, at the macro level, is dependent upon the exit pupil diameter vs. your actual pupil diameter. Any time you have an exit pupil smaller than 2mm (about 3.5mm for my personal eye), you'll notice the image in the scope darkening. Exit pupil is objective diameter divided by magnification setting - so say you're looking at a 6-24x40mm, at 24x, that's 1.67mm exit pupil, and your eye can't restrict down small enough to fit the light being sent to it.