You wont be disapointed with that choice, the extra power is really nice also. I have several of those same scopes on some of my rifles and couldnt be more pleased with them. I have them on my Ruger M77 MarkII 280 Rem, my Bushmaster Varmiter Special XM-15, Rem. 700 SPS 338 Ultra Mag., Rem 700 BDL 338 Win mag, Rem. 700 SPS 300 Ultra Mag, and I have a VXIII 6.5-20 Tgt on my Rem Sendero 300 Ultra Mag.. They perform great in low light conditions, great eye relief, get on target quick without looking for the sight picture, very durable, and should you EVER have any problems, Leupold is a pleasure to deal with, they really stand behind there products. I can afford any scope I want but you will only see Leupolds on my guns. Not saying there arent scopes out there that are as good, but if you find something that works why change? IMHO, They are the best, most durable hunting scopes on the market for there price.

The extra power is nice, I have a 4-16 Nikon Monarch and the 16x is nice to have sometimes.

I picked up a 6.5-20x50 Conquest for $650, so that's pretty close to your price range and is an excellent scope!

I am not personally a fan of the "new" Leupolds. I have a couple of VariXII's and VariXIII's and do not think the "VX" line is as good as the old ones.

The Conquests are nice glass too and I would choose one over the new Leupolds.

I also like the Monarchs (have a couple as well), cheaper and I think better than the Leupolds (again: the new "VX's").

I have also heard GREAT things about Meopta in both scopes and binoculars.

Have a Vortex Viper 6.5-20X44 on order as I have heard excellent things about them too and have used their binoculars right next to Swaro's in the field and they were close (but not quite) the glass. But they were also under $600.

You do know the new VXI is essentialy the same scope as the older VariXII and the new VXII is essentially the same scope as the older VariXIII?, according to Leupold anyway. I believe it to be true too, I have acouple of older VariXII 3-9's and they are identical to the VXI 3-9, that I have on my rem. 597 22L.R., the only difference is my VariXII's are glossy finished and my VXI is silver to match the stainless 22.

I know what they claim, what I see when I look through them does not bear it out though.

As I said: I feel the new VX line to be inferior to the old VariX line.

As was said already in this thread, much of it is in the eye of the beholder and arguing about glass is like arguing about politics or religion. I was just stating my opinion, much of it is subjective and cannot be "proven". That's why all of the statements in my post say "I feel" and "I think".

Where did you find that model zeiss for that?

I'm not suggesting that guides in general are sponsored. What do those non-sponsored guides do in their off-seasons, though? Most I know have work elsewhere and take their vacations to guide hunters.

Nice photo, but I'm thinking "What? No bug-killed timber"?! :)

PM Inbound :wink:

Don't get all wrapped up in excessively high magnification at the expense of low end magnification. 10 - 12 power is more than enough magnification for big game hunting out to several hundred yards. I personally wouldn't want to go over 4X magnification on the low end unless it were on a long range specific rifle.

With a 50mm objective lens you are going to get in increasingly darker image when you get above 10X magnification. Just because you can crank it up to 18 or 20 times magnification doesn't mean you are going to be able to see what you are looking at.

Leave the high magnification scopes for the specialized long range and varmint rifles.

This is true, and I've thought of that, it happens with any scope. 4.5x14x50....leaves me with a minimum of 4.5, which is generally low enough to shoot within 50 yards and at right at dark,if the need arises, but I doubt I'd carry it if my shooting would consistantly be within 150yards. I've got too many other, closer range, cheaper shooting calibers for that.