Perhaps my input can be of some help. I have always had similar needs to you typically wanted to stick to SFP as it was mostly for hunting and figured if I needed the reticle, I could dial it to max. I have run scopes like the viper hst, pst gen 1, zeiss hd5(multiple) and leupold vx6hd as a sample of some of the nicer sfp scopes I have had, used and still use. With recommendations from multiple forums, I decided to pick up an LRTSi as a ffp scope for my crossover hunting/range gun.
Both my vortex have long ago been sold. Was not impressed with the optical quality, or build quality. The CA was brutal and I though resolution was lacking in the ones i had. The zeiss function well for the hunting applications I use them for. The leupold vx6hd was my jump into something a little higher end and I found the glass was impressive. Comparing it side by side to a zeiss v6, my eyes liked the leupold better. The leupold was also cheaper and had more features. Problem with the scope is it doesn't track the best and if you do your research, I'm not the only one who thought that.
When I got the lrtsi 4.5-18x44 my overall impression was that it was every bit the scope of the leupold and I got it for well under half the price. It was better than the zeiss hd5 during the day, but lagged behind a bit in low light. Still plenty good through legal light conditions.
The vx6hd still has slightly better glass and gets noticeably better at lowlight. But that is about the only thing that the leupold wins on. The LRTSi has a better reticle, better turrets, better parallax and power adjustment rings and build quality. It comes at a bit of a weight cost as well, but it is still well under your max weight.
The best part about the lrtsi is the reticle is very useable at lowest power at last light still. With illumination on, the reticle pops and I have had zero problems in low light, beside the face that the lrtsi lags a little in low light to the zeiss and leupold. Knowing what I now know, I would own a lot more lrtsi. It has a functional ffp reticle at all powers, tree useable at all powers and doesn't get cluttered. It has me wanting more bushnell offerings in the future and is only a matter of time.
First post here and wanted to thank you guys for all the useful information over the years and wish I had joined sooner.
