Wanted to pass on a little bit of info. I haven't done any super in depth comparison/research but I had a chance last weekend to look at several Weaver Classic V scopes. I have to say that I'm more than impressed. I have no real idea on their construction but their optics are down right awesome. The price is certainly right too... w/ the 3-9x40 coming in for about 170$.
Optics were extremely sharp, great edge to edge clarity, and extremely bright. Weaver touts 95% light transmission... not sure if they get it but boy it's close if it's not. I'm not sure I've seen anything in this price range that has this kind of optical quality.
My last experience prior w/ a Weaver was a 30+ year old fix 4x model that was like looking through a kid's telecope that was included with a pirate costume. Just relating to show that there isn't a bias here.... no skin in it for me one way or the other.