VX-3 vs Zeiss Conquest vs Nikon Monarch

[sns2]

Hi Guys,

My buddy and I went into Cabelas today to buy a scope. His price range was $500 give or take a few bucks, but he said he wanted something a little more powerful than a 3x9. I told him he should be comparing Cabelas 50th Anniversary Leupold VX3 3.5x10x40 ($500), Minox ZA5 3x15x42 ($530), Nikon Monarch 3x12x42 ($530), and the Zeiss Conquest 3x9x40. Anyhow, he looked at the first three, and right away the guy talked him out of the Minox, which I didn't agree with, but whatever. The Nikon also had nice glass, and it had an adjustable objective too. The guy at the counter, who was very helpful btw, told him that the parallax turret was actually a ballistic drop turret that he could program with load data on the Nikon website. I said, "Are you sure?" Dude said, "Absolutely." My buddy was down on that because it would cost him an extra $100 bucks or so from Korth for a custom turret if he went with the VX3. The fellas behind the counter then gave him an extra $80 off because it was the last scope in the store of that model. Bonus!. My buddy thinks this is Christmas morning and whips out his Visa.

He gets home and goes on Nikon's website to enter his load data like buddy told him, and he finds out that the turret is for parallax.

I told him he should reconsider the issue and make a call between the Zeiss Conquest 3x9x40 or the Leupold VX3 3.5x10x40 for the same money.

Do any of you think he should keep the Nikon?

Please give your thoughts if you've had experience with these scopes. My friend will be looking at this as a long-term purchase.

Thanks.