Nikon Monarch 4x or a Leupold FX-2 4x?

Any durability or eye relief advantages for either one?

Bird Dog - I have the Nikon 4x Monarch and a couple of Leupold 4's. I think the Nikon is "brighter", but not by much (matter of bigger objective end). The coating on the lens are very similar and I doubt if you can tell much difference except in extreme lighting conditions where you wouldn't be legal to shoot anyway. The 4" eye relief on the Leupold is better by 1/2", not a great amount, but enough to make it a bit more comfortable on a "hard kicker" if you are a "stock crawler" :D . Field of View (FOV) is about the same, but the Leupold is lighter by a couple of oz's. The durability factor favors Leupold only because they have been in the rifle scope market much longer; Nikon has a great reputation and offers the same "no fault" warranty. My 4x Monarch is mounted on a .35 Whelen, my 4x Lupy's are on a 250/3000 Encore and Sako .243; I could put either one of them on any gun I own, .223 to .375 H&H, with complete confidence. My 2 cents. Riley

While the Nikon Monarch may be slightly better optically, the Leupold is the better firearm sighting device. You will be able to get on target faster with the Leupold, it has better eye relief and is lighter.