Highly suggest Sightron Big Sky...

Fantastic scope for the money and is an extraordinary scope...

I would spend 500.00 on a Leupold Vari-XII and put the rest into something else. You can get better, but will never need it. The Leupold will never fail you.

The Sightron Big Sky is hands down brighter than a VXIII and trumps the VXII big time...

You can get into one for $400 bucks...

Same warranty as a Leupold and they track better on average...

FWIW...

YMMV...

haven't put a full box through it yet but I am loving the Millett on my new 700, $300

http://www.millettsights.com/scopes/trs/

Trijicon Accupoint 2.5-10x56

Bushnell Elite 6500 2.5-16x42

Zeiss Conquest 4.5-14x44

David

Whatever you do, make sure to check Cameraland NY before you buy anywhere else. Not kidding. Great prices and service.

X1000

Agree on Cameraland. That's where my most recent scope came from. GREAT service and price.

Zeiss Conquest...Leuopold VXIII...Sightron Big Sky.....take your pick!

Not to be argumentative, but I respectfully disagree

I grew up in a Leupold family, but times have changed, there are better scopes for similar money and scopes that are a LOT better and allow you to continue to hunt at last light longer.

My brother has a VX3 and we hunt together, I am ALWAYS out longer than him, in fact he jokes about it and will be upgrading before next season after seeing the difference first hand.

x2 heck for 1000 you can buy 2 of them

I hunt as long as the law will allow.

I just recently bought a Sightron SIII 8x32 56 and have been extremely impressed with the clarity.

http://www.sightron.com/index.php?action=view_document&did=1201816362&cat_id=6

Sorry, but a VX-3 will last alot longer than legal shooting light. My redfield revolution will even last longer than shooting light. And being out longer doesnt mean anything. I'm not leaving til all the mature bucks have left, and that could be an hour after it gets dark. I'm sorry, but your statement is very weak.

Big differnce between the vari-x III and the VX-3. I have both 4.5-14x40 vx3 and a varixIII 4.5-14x50 the VX3 gathers more light than my 15 year old vxIII even though it is a 50 mm objective. Go to Cabelas and compare the Zeiss to the new VX3 and you will be really suprised. Make sure they are comparable.

There's more than just brightness, there's resolution and contrast... being able to positively distinguish between 2 deer at 300 yards under the edge of trees at last light.

As a buddy of mine recently pointed out that a scope he was testing for me would have got allowed him to confidently shoot at 200 yards at the end of legal hunting time where his older scope of the same power and objective size was more like 125 yards for the same shot...

That is pretty signifigant

Would people really spend the money if it weren't worth it?
I sure as heck wouldn't, money is way to hard to come by to buy stuff just for ego's sake

The Zeiss Conquest for $400 is hard to beat...AND you have $600 left over and can by another rifle....

true, definitely one of the best deals out there

I should also point out that I do a lot of hog hunting and so my expectation for exceptional low light performance is probably higher than the average deer hunter

That is an important piece of information, since 30 minutes after sundown means nothing when hunting pigs.

I still stand by my firm belief that better scopes do help with deer hunting...

I had my dad out with me over Thanksgiving and were watching some deer come out right at very, very last light about 250 yards away...

He was looking through his Monarch 2.5-10x42 and said he was having a hard time finding them... I handed him my rifle with a Kahles CL 3-10x50 and he said something to the effect of "oh wow"

I looked through his scope and it looked like looking through a yellow tinted straw...

could still see them, but would have been impossible to distinguish a shooter amongst them

My scope was still very clear and had a much, much bigger view and I could clearly discern the horns

Now you went to nikon, definitely a lower class than Leupold. Thats like comparing a ford to a cadillac. Trust me, a VX-3 will make a 300 yard shot at last light. Your Kahles might be a great scope, but quit trying to down play the Leupold, because they are awesome.

Not saying that the VX-III is a bad scope, but when I compare them to a Zeiss conquest with the same objective size, it's noticeably better. I'm not one to buy things because of the name on the side, or because it was more expensive, but rather because I feel that it's better.
Also, comparing them indoors at Cabelas isn't the same as comparing them in the field, though it will give you an idea.

I hunt at night quite a bit, and it's quickly apparent which ones gather more light from the "incandescent sun"