Leupold isn't anything special in their instruments. What they are is an legacy company or one that has brand recognition. For decades they sat on that and didn't offer anything but duplex and low amount of options till competition moved in. I've always thought Leupold has decent customer service but their products aren't always the best. I'm sure their market share is significantly less than 20yrs ago but that can be a good thing because today there's more choices.
I have Burris scopes and they're fine. Sightron may have what you are looking for. Primary Arms has decent scopes. Your also in a great deal of luck as currently there's a glut ofn1-6x and 1-8x scopes on the market that are compact and in your price range and you can choose FFP or SFP. I would look into one of the 1x-8x low power variable optics and call it a day.
