I didn't read through all the replies, but here's my thoughts in no particular order... I have the FFP 3-15x44 with EBR-2C reticle.
Illumination sucks, it's heavy, and I still pulled a 3.5-15x50 NXS off of a rifle in order to put this scope on it. And I didn't do it for the money I had left over (although that actually paid for a Leupold VX-R Patrol 3-9x). The big selling points for me with this 3-15x Vortex are the field of view, and the glass/eyebox...looking through it is a pleasure (until you turn on the illumination).
I'll list out my thoughts here...
Pros...
Incredible glass at the price point. The glass was a large margin brighter/clearer than the Leupold VX5 HD 3-15x that I thought I'd surely be buying...and I usually love Leupold.
Gigantic, forgiving eye box...plenty of eye relief, etc. Looking through it instantly reminded me of my Razor HD Gen 2, and that's not something I ever expected to happen. I have several older Viper PST and HST scopes, and they're just nowhere close. I didn't expect to like it, but I fell in love with it the second I looked through it. In fact, I looked at the sales guy and said "Oh man...wow....you can go ahead and put that Leupold away." The glass is getting really close to Nightforce level, which is crazy at this price. And no, I'm not saying its glass is on par with the Razor HD Gen II glass (which I think is nicer than my Nightforce glass)...it's not quite that good, but the design of the eye box and the bright, giant image you see are absolutely there.
Everything (glass, construction, adjustments) is better than PST Gen 1, and that's by a wide margin. They're so different, in fact, that I kinda wonder why they didn't rename these and kill the PST line.
HUUUUUUUGE field of view. You get a 41.2 feet FOV at 100 yards on 3x magnification...that's insane. Your typical 3-9x40 scope will give you a 34-36 foot field of view on 3x magnification. Most scopes with a 2 or 2.5x low end won't give you that large of a FOV. The Vortex Razor LH 2-10x40 (btw the Razor LH line are awesome, awesome hunting scopes - best glass you'll ever find at that price point, ever ever ever.) Bottom line, it may as well have a 1.8x low end, at least as far as my concerns go. If I need to dial it down and make a fast/close shot, I'm going to be more than confident I have plenty of field of view. For me, this is a selling point that alone makes up for the cons below.
Cons
I still don't love the finish...it's not quite as shiny as the original Viper PST, but it's nowhere near the matte black you see on Leupold Mark series, Nightforce, etc. I guess they're trying to avoid alienating hunters with shiny blued rifles...that's the only reason I can figure.
Illumination knob is unduly stiff, but should break in...I hope.
It's a bit heavy...28 oz. That said, it feels like a much more robust scope than the PST Gen I. And it's a great compromise between a lPST Gen I and a Razor HD Gen II 3-18x that weighs 46 oz. In fact, the insane weight of the Razor 3-18x is the only reason I didn't go with that scope....but I'm happier with this PST Gen II than I was with the NXS that was on the rifle, so I'm fine with the 28 oz weight, all things considered. You can make up for several ounces of that with aluminum rings or a lightweight AR mount.
My only major gripe is one that leaves me wondering what Vortex was thinking...the illumination absolutely positively sucks. If it were my company, we'd go back to the drawing board on that before releasing them. Red light bleeds like crazy from the reticle - like it just has a soft glow all around it. Illumination is so distracting and screws with my eyes so bad (looks blurry) that it's all but useless at higher magnification. If you need it, you'll have to run it really dim (so you have a burgundy reticle that's not much better than black) or you'll have to dial the magnification down. You pretty much have to use it as a dim burgundy reticle to get it not to bleed. It's still usable if you're in a pinch because it will still stand out on a black/dark background, but you wouldn't want to leave it on. One saving grace...because it's FFP, the reticle looks like an illuminated plex reticle at lower magnification, so you don't really notice how bad it bleeds. Fortunately, I don't normally use illumination (unless it's a center dot type like my Leupold VX-R's and Trijicon Accupoints), but it's something I like to have if I need it.
