I wouldn't say the glass is middle of the road. I have a 5-20HD and it is very nice optically. Tough as they come.
You don't buy a SS for the "glass". You buy it for durability and repeatability. You could go buy a new Zeiss Terra and it would have better glass than a 6X SS but which will have the durability to not let you down when you need it? And I own a Terra 3-9.
Look at all the leupold threads on here. They regularly go TU and people complain. Not many out on the WWW about a SS. There are some but not many.
I will leave you this. On Snipers Hide one of the mods (who competes regularly) ditched his highend scopes, night forces and S&Bs, when the SS 5-20HD came out. Not sure if he has kept them or switched again but he felt there was a better mouse trap with the SS.
