Leatherwood/Hi-Lux is actually pretty good stuff for the price range. I've used/sold/installed the Leatherwood CMR on several customer AR15 builds and every one of those customers loves the scope. The glass is really hard to beat for color rendition and clarity in that price range. I am friends with Alex Sergeev, the Russian ballistician who designed the reticle on the CMR's so I have some inside info on what goes into those scopes. Yes they are made in China, but they do not settle for half ass build or glass quality when they commit to a production run. I have been watching the development of the CMR 2.0 which is coming soon and seen some absolutely fantastic prototypes be rejected for aberrations that I could not identify until he showed me what to look for.
In that price range, Leatherwood is a really good option based on what I have seen.