I have three Swaro 1.25-4x24mm variables, all with the No. 24 or "Battue" reticle and mounted on heavy rifles (two .416s and a .458 Lott).

Two of them have been fine so far, after hundreds of rounds, but the other one failed on me last year (I wrote about it in the "Rifle Failures in Africa" thread).

I still haven't sent it back for repairs, so I don't know what happened to it. But right out of the case on sight-in it was off and didn't respond to adjustments.

I also have a Leupold LPS 2.5-10x45mm variable, which is mounted on a .308 Win., and I like it very much. I also own another Swaro variable and several S&B variable power scopes and rate them the best along with the Swaros and the LPS.

As for that, I should say that I can easily tell the difference in quality between a great scope and a mediocre or bad one. But to my eyes the great ones are all equal.

What I mean is that the gradations in quality of image and brightness between the top end scopes, as for example a Swaro, an LPS and an S&B, are lost on my old eyes!

Which one of those is the best I will have to leave to the astronomers to decide!

I have also heard from many sources that the Zeiss scopes are not as robust as they should be, so I have never owned one.