I think we hear more about Leupolds going down because there are so many of them in circulation,so naturally we hear about it more.
But I don't think any of these "mid-price" variables are immune....I have seen Nikons, Swaro AV, Zeiss,and others in that $800 and under price range puke in one way or another. Have seen it so much, in fact, that I wince when I buy any of them.Some days I think a guy is better off with a Leupold fixed power than he is with any of the popular brands of variables in that price range.
Plus we have this huge cultural rift today....the average hunter does not shoot all that much.If the rifle sees 200-300 rounds a year that's a lot.So the gear does not see much use.
OTOH we have the avid shooter/hunters like guys on here who pound several thousand rounds a year down range....they are going to make the low price spreads puke on a consistent basis. When I was doing that volume of shooting, I broke several common variables, and 300-375 cal magnums ate those variables for lunch after not much shooting at all. It got to the point where i would buy a Leupold variable and after round count hit 500-600 rounds, I'd just sell it off and buy a new one,whether it worked or not.
And ALL my scope problems started when I started using variables....before that I used fixed powers and there were no "problems".
We did not have things like NF back then, but I understand why guys are drawn to them and the more the annual round count reaches into the thousands, the more likely they are to use them.
