Re: zero'ing being a pain... you don't HAVE to follow Vortex's zero'ing procedure for the scope. It works, but it can be fidgety, and I find that the inner adjustment turns WAY too easily for my liking. I have a hard time turning it gently enough to get just enough movement on it, personally. So, here's what I do... I turn the turrets to establish zero. If I need to go below the zero stop, I have to unlock and rotate the inner mechanism to get me enough headroom first. Once I'm zero'ed that way, I lock the turrets, loosen the set screws, unlock the turrets, and return them to zero. Lock the turrets. Tighten the set screws properly. Done. That gets me zero'ed to the closest tenth (or closest 1/4 MOA). So far, that's been fine for me. And, that's pretty much how you zero most other scopes.
I don't know that the turret locking/unlocking bits are needed, but they make me feel better, so... ha ha.