If your only criteria is clear sharp glass there are some good scopes made by Nikon, Bushnell, Vortex and Burris that will equal or beat Leupold for less money.
But glass quality is not on the top of my list or priorities. When I look at all of the qualities I want in a scope Leupold and Zeiss Conquest are about a tie. Many of the other scopes have clear glass, but suffer from short eye relief or tunnel vision. Most are much longer and heavier than a comparable Leupold, and none have the well earned reputation for ruggedness.
Leupold has also made huge improvements in their scopes just within the last year. I have a $300 2012 production VX-2 3-9X40 that I'd put up against anything costing 2X the price. It is a far better scope than the $400 VX-3 I bought 5 years ago.
