JNA, I'll give you my opinion on these scopes as I own a Razor 4.5-27, and a couple S&Bs, and just sold my Atacr for another S&B. You can probably see the theme my opinions are going, lol.
First off, everyone has different opinions and in reality, all these scopes are so close, there is really no bad call between any of these. I think you are right to choose the features that best suit your shooting style, and the glass in any of them should not be your major deciding factor.
I love my vortex and found it just a bit better all round then my Atacr, but it was close. Some of my shooting buddies actually preferred the Atacr, that's how close they are. We all agree though, that the S&Bs are a step above. It is true though that it is an older design, has some flaws as well and the stated warranty is weaker. I am not concerned about the warranty, (maybe I should be??), but I have bought a bunch of stuff over the years from Guy at Wolverine and he said if any if any of mine ever went down, they'd stand behind them. Maybe I'm naive taking his word for it, but he says there has been less then a handful of S&Bs of all different mags ever come back, and the few that did, were replaced/repaired by Schmidt on their dime.
All the scopes are going up big time pretty soon, as old in stock stuff gets moved, so if you see a good deal on any of the ones you are considering, I'd think hard on it. I got my Vortex thru my dealer here in Edmonton, and he told me last week that the new stock will be almost 1000$ more then what I paid last year on my 4.5-27. Same with any new S&Bs coming from Germany. Or so says Wolverine. Bought my Atacr thru Grouse River, and would assume the same there too?
Would really help to try and find someone around who has these to look thru and get behind them yourself, as in the store you just can not make a real determination of what they'll be like on a gun in the real world.
Hope that helps you...
