I'm probably going to get flamed for writing this, but I think that we put far too much time and emphasis fussing and fuming over rather small differences in scopes. Any of the better quality brands/models will do a hunter nicely in terms of both reliability and image quality. After all, they are merely a place to store your crosshairs. They shouldn't be used for long term glassing or identifying game.
Now, I can see getting all worked up over binoculars, as one can spend hours and hours looking through them, and minute differences in image quality can help in identifying animals and/or avoiding eye strain and headaches. I'd rather spend my money on the most expensive and best binoculars I could afford and then happily settle for a moderately priced scope.
I can see making exceptions for target shooters (time spent behind the scope), low-light hunters, and anyone with a gun whose recoil is in the .375 and higher range. There was a guy at the local range today shooting a .458 Lott with a 2 - 7 B&L scope on it. I wonder how long the scope is going to put up with that level of recoil?!
