For over thirty years I used Zeiss and a variety of other brands that were supposedly better than Leupold. I used whatever Nikon was selling at the moment as their high end model when I wanted an economical scope. A few years ago I bought my first Leupold scope and have been extremely happy since. I'm now up to 10 or so Leupold rifle scopes and one Gold Ring spotting scope with zero issues, and incredible customer service.
I live in Beaverton, the home of Leupold, and have had a couple opportunities to sit down with Leupold technical guys and have asked about some of the issues I read about on this and other forums. They were able to explain things to me in a way that my non engineering background brain could understand, and I came to realize most of these "issues" are not really issues but perceived issues on the part of some people.
I also have had opportunity over the years to talk with a fair number of people who work at Leupold making the scopes, and I've never heard any of them complain about how the company treats them, and in today's world, that means a great deal to me.
It wasn't until late middle age that I turned to Leupold products, but I am very happy with them. They may not be perfect, and some of their stuff may not be the absolute best in a category, but on average it is good stuff that outperforms the vast majority of those who are using it.
