I have never had an illuminated reticle scope. I had a friend who had one years ago, a Trijicon I think, that had a red dot in the center of the reticle and I was impressed with it. I ordered a new scope a few days ago from Tract. I had originally wanted an illuminated red dot in their T-Plex reticle 2.5-15x42 until I saw the price difference between that and the plain T-Plex reticle 3-15x42 - $440 more. Same glass, etc. in each. It's a nice feature, but I just could not see it (pun intended). Tract scopes are excellent quality and come with a lifetime, no paperwork needed, no cost warranty. No matter if you are the original owner or not. So, not an issue for me about the quality or any future maintenance expense, other than changing out a common CR2032 battery. Maybe this feature is cheaper on other scopes? I don't know. I was sold on wanting a Tract Toric and the illuminated feature just wasn't what I was willing to pay that much more for.
Henry, the light isn’t all you get for your $400. It also has a 30mm tube so has double the adjustment range of the 1” you (and I, BTW) bought. Makes a difference for some people’s use, plus likely adds some strength as well.
It also weighs 7oz more, one reason I’m still thinking about one. Trijicon has some lighter options. I don’t worry about the warranties of either, and since both are built by LOW, the durability either. The regular T-Plex is pretty good in dim light as well.
