Re: looked at Mark4 over weekend, disappointed.
Nobody can deny that Leupold makes a good product. Everyone KNOWS the Mark4 is durable. Everyone KNOWS the Mark4 is combat tested and combat proven. Everyone KNOWS that Leupold will always be a major contender in the optics market.
I think the major problem is that Leupold has been in the game for so long and been basically "on top" for so long that they're an easy target for subjective arguments. Never before have we seen so many good scopes available on the market, and now Leupold has been caught and passed by many brands. That doesn't mean that Leupold is worse, it just means that the bar has been raised by contenders. It's simple capitalism- <span style="font-weight: bold">find the industry leader, make something better, take the leader's business, be successful.</span> Leupold still has their customers.
Personally, I used to love Leupold. I have several Leupold scopes. Then, I started to look around and realize that I could get better products for less or comparable money, based on what I wanted out of the scope. I liked Leupold Vari-X II and VX-II scopes. Then I developed a personal belief that Nikon's Monarch series gave me more scope for the same price. The Nikons had better clarity and light transmission with the same rugged construction.
The 3-9x40 Leupold VX-1 my dad was looking at for his new deer rifle was a fine enough scope, but the Nikon 3-9x40 Buckmasters scope was just brighter for both of us. At $20 cheaper, my dad, who really loves saving money, was sold. Add to it Nikon's full lifetime warranty, and he's sold.
I was absolutely sold on a new Leupold Mark4, but was just waiting on the M5 turrets to come out. Then I looked through a NightForce and was blown away by how much better the optical quality was to me. NF also had a picture of an NXS with a bullet hole through it that kept working, so I knew they were rugged. So I decided to get an NXS for my next scope. Then I looked through the Vortex Razor HD and was blown away. I then remembered seeing a guy toss a Razor HD around and it took the beating and didn't break. Now I'm ditching the NXS idea and getting a Razor HD.
I have a high sensitivity to optical quality and clarity. If I don't have really good optics, I get eye strain very easily and get headaches. I will spend the extra money for what I deem to be better quality. I don't think Leupold is bad by any means, I just like other scopes better. Who knows, I may just yet buy a Mark4 LR/T w/ M5 turret some day.
It's all subjective. What makes sense to me and is better to me may not be better to other people. Everyone must make their own decision about what they want. I don't think it's a matter of Leupold sucking. I think it's a matter of many people finding something else that they prefer and like more than Leupold. That doesn't necessarily make Leupold worse, just different. But that's just a thought I had.
Cheers!
Edit: one thing I would like to address is this whole notion that operational marksmen don't care about optical quality and clarity as long as the scope works fine. I know someone previously said it here, and I've seen it in other Leupold threads. While that may be true for <span style="text-decoration: underline"><span style="font-weight: bold">some</span></span>, it's far from universally true. I've always preferred better optics. I can tell the difference, and it matters to me. It matters now, and it mattered when I was in the Army. I've met many people that it also matters to. It's fine if it doesn't matter to you; there's nothing wrong with that. I've actually found that some people who don't care about specific optical qualities just don't have a very vast knowledge of the product field or just about optics in general. They only know what they've been told by the military. I also know some big game hunters in Colorado that can make shots that would make snipers in awe, and those hunters have all told me that optical quality is so important, that it's second only to reliability. But don't group everyone together and imply that because we're not operational Scout/Snipers right now that we have no credibility to what we observe and believe. Just my $0.02.
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