Got my information right from Leupold in the last few months. There isn’t any difference in glass quality, coatings, or internal upgrades. The only differences are cosmetic. The “L” is now laser etched instead of a gold “L” medallion. They have an exposed, a locking CDS turret, and a screw in throw lever. Leupold told me they decided to go that route on all of their scopes except for the Freedom price leaders because that’s their target market now… tactical AR shooters. IMO they wrecked the “classic” Leopold look. Leupold customer service said most consumers want a CDS dial and throw levers now…lol. The reason I know this is I have a VX3i 2.5-8 that Leupold customer service upgraded for an old 3-9 vx2. I bought brand new around 90’ or so. They sent me the 2.5-8 VX3i around January/February of this year time frame. The VX3i came NIB with a chunk of something stuck to the crosshairs. I didn’t unbox it till about 2 months ago to install. I sent it back for replacement but they instead chose to replace the crosshairs in the brand new optic instead of just sending another scope. They repaired scope to me about a month later with some really thick “dangerous game” crosshairs by accident… is what they called them anyways. Thick as barn boards. I sent it back again immediately( this was a few weeks ago) for the original style thinner crosshairs. I once again received the same scope back two days ago with yet a different set of crosshairs along with a lgold thin wire that was attached half way up the right side horizontal crosshair snd half way across to the right side of the vertical cross hair. It looked like a crack till I figured out it was a wire that had to be left over from the install and not removed. Customer service tried to get me to take the HD version every time instead of the crosshair replacement. Apparently the VX3i was on the way out when they upgraded me the frost time around. I told them I appreciate the offer of the HD but hate the looks and idea of the exposed CDS locking spin dial turret on a 2.5-8 and would pass. I am still grateful that they upgraded me but IMO whoever is working in the department replacing crosshairs needs to be retrained, have their work double checked by someone else before leaving the shop, or just fired. At the rate Leupold is going with the repair I think I’m going to use one of optics off one of my other guns so I have a “proven” reliable optic sighted in before deer season. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t want a CDS dial and a tactical throw lever on a classic old firearm. I can tell you I won’t be buying any more Leupolds till they go back optics with turret cap overs and no throw levers. I can tell you I’ve owned countless Leupold optics over the years and have several I sent a couple over the years that would not “track” when I move my turret dials. They all were returned by Leupold stating there was nothing wrong with them. Everyone of them still had the same issue when they cam back. The scopes are long gone needless to say. The scope they replaced was back once before as well. When I adjusted the turrets the POA would not track. After about 6 or 7 shots the POA would shift from the prior scope adjustments and be way off. It would also loose POA every other year besides the coating was 3/4’s worn off. I was told by Leupold about 4 years ago that there was nothing wrong with the optic and sent back. The following year the scope was sighted in 3 days before hunting, on opening day I wounded and recovered a buck. Knowing I could not have hit it where I was aiming I used another [beeep] for the rest of the season. The day after season closed I checked POA . It was 6” to the right from where I sighted it in. I am not a fan of Leupold needless to say. At least they switched out the optic but keep screwing up the replacement. I’m about ready to have them send me the HD version that's NIB so I can sell it off and buy another brand of optic. I’m sure there will be ALOT of warranty optics that won’t track going back to Leupold. Sure wouldn’t want to find that out spinning my dial on a “once in a lifetime” or trophy animal. I don’t remember having that much time to spin dials EVER when real world hunting…and if I did the animal is moving to a different yardage anyways. To me the CDS dial system is a gimmick that will be by the wayside in a few years.