mathewsconquest2

I own two Leupold scopes and they are good. However, I believe the Nikon is clearer. The reason I bought the Leupold's is that there lifetime warranty extends pass the original owner. The warranty is transferable. I found that a selling plus if I wanted to sell it and a plus for those rifles I want to pass on to my son.
Nikon's warranty is not transferable, at least it wasn't when I looked at them a couple years back.

I personally am saving my pennies to buy a Kahles for the 7WSM I have. But you can't go wrong with Leupold or Nikon.

-Mathewsconquest2

Highpower

We actually did a light test using a light meter comparing the Leupold and the Nikon. Beleive it or not, the Nikon's were brighter scopes. Comparing apples to apples, quality wise. I still buy nothing but Leupold, period. The difference is slight enough that it's a wash as far as I'm concerned. My old eyes can't really tell the difference and I tend not to shoot in the dark. I'd say, buy USA.

oldelkhunter

The New Buckmaster scopes have 92% light transmission and the new VX-II has the old Vari-xIII lenses which have similiar light transmission low 90's. If one were to shop carefully you can buy a Nikon Monarch for the mid 200's and it would be equivalent to a VX-III Leupold optics wise. May not have the eye relief but glass wise it is its equal. Recoil wise again the Leupold is a more proven commodity but I haven't heard of too many Nikon Failures.

NVMIKE

I own all leupolds(i do have a pair of nikon pocket binos that are good), I have no doubt that the nikon has quality optics. my only question is toughness and warranty, nikon MAY be equal on these but I KNOW leupold is tough, and has great customer serv. Your scope breaks you get a new one PERIOD, no questions.

zekeskar

RE: customer service. Leupold is absolutely incredible, but I have no experience with Nikon to compare (I am a very dedicated Nikon camera person though, have been for 30 years).

I have an old, I believe it's called, V-I from the early 80s that I bought USED without any documentation, in the mid-80s. Haven't used it a LOT, but it hasn't been babied either.

About a year ago, I just wanted the thing to have a look over. I was having some vague issues sighting in and wanted to make sure it wasn't a scope issue. Turns out it was normal varancy of ammo loads: it was the first time I was experimenting with various loads and didn't realize the inconsistency some loads will give in a rifle. I contacted them by email and they said send it in and when do you need it back. I had a hunting trip coming up in 2 weeks so I really needed it back within a week or so so I could mount and sight it. I paid for express shipping to them, but they expedited it in their shop, and overnighted it back to me NO CHARGE. I had several days to get it mounted and sighted in. Also, gave me the confidence to realize when I had a bad or good ammo match for my gun. DEFINITELY gave me confidence with my shots in the field, and that's hugely important.

They completely re-habbed it (not sure but think this was disassembly, clening, re-gassing, etc). and included a written tech report on the scope. The shop report showed the scope was rock solid (helping me to finally figure out my problems were ammo/load related, not scope). All this for a customer who really didn't have a problem, bought the scope used 20 years ago.

This, my friends, might trump any difference between Nikon and Leupold for me at least. I'll be hard pressed to buy any other brand in the future, although my prejudice would be that Nikon is an excellent product as well.

zeke

dep214

i own both brands.leupold does have great customer service. nikon just average.they are often very slow to respond.the new nikon buckmaster has had some probs this year. the crosshairs would fall away and not stay sighted.i have had leupold do the same thing.they are both about the same in price. i just think the leupold is made better and will stick to them.