I had a long conversation with Leupold about the Redfield line. You here so many different answers about where they are compared to the Leupold scopes.
I was told with what sounded like an honest answer that the Redfield line is lower than the VX-I in optic quality.
Take it for what it's worth. Unless you think the VX-I is a great scope.
Whoever at Leupold who told you that has their head WAY up their azz.(which is common, unfortunately)
I have pretty darn good eyesight and compared two Refields a 2-7 and a 3-9 against both a Leupold 6x-36 FX-11 and a VX2 3-9x40.
The difference in optical quality was nill during daylight hours and at dusk ,so slight that you'd really have to like a Gold rings a LOT to justify not buy a Redfield.
The guys I have talked at Leupold say the only real difference between the Redfields and the older VX1 scopes is the simpler guts and reduced assmembly time of the Redfields- not the optics.
It may be that Leupold has upgraded their VX1 scopes optics for 2012 and they are now indeed a step up from the Redfeild line. They sure as heck needed to do something because anyone with decent eyesight could see it was not worth spending he extra coin for the VX 1 scopes. Not to mention the fact that the Redfields had click adjustments where as the VX1 scopes only had friction types.
