PB,
I think that's a fair point. I think there can be little debate that some uses require extreme duty design and builds. It is worth the costs and weight outside of extreme duty context? I suspect that that is a level most folks will never actually "need." I'm primarily a hunter, and these days, most of my shots are now in the 225-360yd range (this was not the case when I lived and hunted exclusively out west). Do I need a battle ready scope? Do I even need to dial? Of course not. Still, I'm done with scopes that don't tract as advertised when sighting in. From the 80s to the 90s, Leupold was where it was at for a set and forget glass. Today, my priorities for glass are holding zero, brilliant optics, and tracking. I remain partial to SFP duplex reticles (I sight in at 300yds) although I'm really seeing the benefit of illuminated FFP scopes like my SWFA 1x6 and LRHSi 4.5x18. For my present hunting, do I need anything more than a good old Vari-x-III? No. Of course, I believe "need" is truly a 4 letter word. If I had the opportunity to regularly shoot 1000yds plus would I need something different and could I rationalize a $2k+ scope? Sure I could.
