I've been using the HDMR H59 3.5-21x50 for a few months for long range ballistics testing. It's mounted in Seekins rings on a 50 BMG target rifle. I will post a more detailed review of this scope later. Right now, I'll address the OP's post.
This scope seems to be holding up well. The locking turrets are handy and resetting the zero is almost fool-proof. The turret clicks have a good tactile feel - partly because the turrets are so wide. However, the clicks are only barely audible. The turrets have 5 mils (17 MOA) of adjustment per turn.
My biggest complaint is that Bushnell labels this scope a 3.5-21X magnification range. I complain because the field of view tunnels below about 4.2X (the magnification decreases, but the field of view does not increase). The negligible increase in exit pupil below 4.2X is not enough to justify this misleading labeling.
The short length of the tube and objective in front of the turret is remarkable. I'm not sure what the advantage of this design feature is - the eyepiece end is still quite long. I guess it shaves off a few ounces, so that alone is a good thing.
IMHO, the optical performance would be acceptable for hunting. Low light performance compares well with other scopes at a similar price point that have a similar exit pupil size at ~20X. The resolution across the field of view is good. Glare performance is an area of disappointment for me. It's OK, but not great. Higher glare is one cause for low contrast during daytime. For a hunting scope good daytime contrast is important to me.
Based on the design of this particular product in the Elite Tactical line, I would be cautious about the 4.5-30X model, because I fear the glare above 21X would be excessive for a hunting scope. While, I have no first hand experience with the 4.5-30X model, I would not be surprised to see tunneling at the low end of the zoom range, and degraded contrast at the high end.
I could stop here, but I'll comment on the H59 reticle. This reticle is nearly invisible in low light - especially at low magnification, and that could be a problem for big game hunting. The H59 has one feature that I must have for ballistic testing, which is the only reason I use it. Otherwise, it's too busy for me and I find it difficult to spot round hits on hard terrain or in vegetation when they occur inside the reticle area. I must rely on a spotter to follow the bullet trace to impact. If I didn't have a spotter, I would be out of luck half the time. I would not use the H59 reticle for hunting because I usually hunt alone.
The OP mentioned something about Gen II scopes coming out. I didn't see anything at the last SHOT show that would indicate this model (H59 reticle) is being improved in any way. The new Z-Lok zero stop turret appears to be limited to other 3.5-21X models that have different reticles.
