While the brightness and contrast may not appear all that impressive, the resolution of the 6x and 10x, especially in poor atmospheric conditions, has outpaced plenty of scopes costing a lot more, even up to 10x more than the SS classics. IME/IMO the 6x and 10x have VX2-VX3 quality glass (but I would argue that they have better resolution than the Leups), while the 3-9xHD outpaces the VX3 of similar mag range.
Everyone's eyes are different, but that's my opinion and that of some of my shooting buds.
