I probably have a lot less personal experience with Leupold than you, but my personal experience hasn't been good. This includes:
1) Leupold Mark 4 3.5-10x40 bought previously owned but as-new on a forum (can't remember if it was this one or not). Scope was genuine and in as-new condition without ring marks or any signs of use. But the reticle had numerous and noticeable dust spots (this is internal, on the piece of glass that the reticle is etched into). Sent back to Leupold for service. They cleaned the dust, and put a huge ding in the ocular bell while it was in. No excuse for damaging the scope, and if their manufacturing was cleaner, it wouldn't have had dust on the reticle either.
2) Leupold VX-R 3-9x40 purchased new from Cabela's about 3 years ago. The ballistic reticle was misshapen and lopsided, like it had been drawn with crayons, or had melted. Scope went back and scared me off Leupold for a time.
3) Leupold VX-R 3-9x40 purchased new from Cabela's a month ago. I am just wanting to like this model. TMR reticle is properly formed, but visibly canted from vertical. This is going back and will probably be my last-ever Leupold purchase. Reading on Sniper's Hide indicates that Leupold has a tolerance of 3 degrees for reticle cant, and will not fix a reticle that is canted less than 3 degrees. Some may consider this acceptable, I don't.
That is my direct personal experience with Leupold's quality and service. I have also owned three other Leupolds that did not have apparent defects, but a 50% problem rate is - how do you say - unspeakably bad?
Numerous posts on Sniper's Hide indicates that I'm not alone in this experience, and that most people there have given up on the brand. There is a long and detailed thread on testing of the tracking of various brands and models of scope, which you can find here:
http://www.scout.com/military/sniper...tracking-tests
If you read through it you'll see (1) several brands have common problems with certain models, (2) Leupold Mark 6 3-18x scopes seem to have a lot of problems, and (3) the one Mark 8 tested was perfect.
The other problem I have with recommending Leupold to any random buyer is that they apparently offer a huge (30-40%?) discount for mil and LE. That's great if you get the discount and I can easily see how someone who gets the discount would find their scopes appealing. HOWEVER, it also means that resale value of used Leupold scopes is low, and if you can't get the discount, you are taking a huge hit on resale value. I don't buy any scope with the intent of reselling it, but practically speaking I and many other people do tend to resell them as we work our way up the quality ladder or decide we want X features instead of Y. When I have resold Nightforce and Steiner scopes I have broken even. It's not likely I could do that with Leupold scopes, especially in the Mark 4/6 series.
Those are my reasons for not recommending Leupold, and I have tried to clearly detail what is personal experience vs. what is simply overheard from others' claims.
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