Hey paltik, I got to see the BSA, Burris and the Leupold illuminated scopes at the NRA Convention when it was in Charlotte, NC.
The BSA version I saw was designed to light up the entire reticle. Having looked at the others first, it just seemed to be too much being illuminated. I could be wrong, but I felt like it might cause your eye to adjust to all that light and in effect keep you from seeing the Game. I can't remember if you could adjust the brightness on it or not.
The Burris was pretty nice. It illuminated a small red dot ( . ) in the center of the crosshairs. It has 3-settings - Off, Low and High. The Burris Rep explained that the Low setting was intended for shooting during the "twilight" period and would not be so bright as to blind you. The High setting would probably be used during daytime Varmint or Preditor hunting so the red dot would stand out during the bright daylight.
The "only" thing I saw wrong with it, was that the "dot" would allow you to "cant the rifle" slightly without knowing it during twilight. Now, in all fairness, let me point out at the distance you would typically need the Illuminated Reticle during twilight, canting the rifle a bit probably will not hurt a thing. It could be a problem at a longer distance if the shooter was trying to hit a small target like the animals head.
The Leupold was the best one I saw. It had (I think) OFF plus 10 intensity settings. It illuminated the "thin crosshair portion" of the Duplex reticle ( + ). By doing so, it was easy enough to pick up if you canted the scope.
Interesting to me was that Leupold only has a 2-year Warranty on this feature. I do not know what the Warranties for the Burris and BSA scopes happen to be.
I did not get to see the illuminated Nightforce, Springfield or self-illuminating Trigicon scopes, so I can't comment on them.
Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills, Hot Core
