I own four USO's and have looked thru many NFs. Glass-wise, they are the same, both very good (not S&B excellent, but right below them). What sets the USOs apart for me is two facts:
(1) you can get them custom built exactly how you want them. Lots of reticle options, lots of different tubes/objectives/knobs, etc. I really like the USO ocular lens as well, I think they are better than NF. The EREK knob is simply awesome as well, if you are shooting ultra long range, its the way to go.
(2) USO customer service. Call them up and you get to speak to the owner of the company. Have a problem, they will literally jump thru hoops to solve them. Have a question, call them and you speak to the guy that built your scope. I purchased a used USO and before buying it, I called them and they said "buy it and ship it to us and we will look it over to make sure its 100% good to go". I did that and the scope arrived back at my house 2 weeks latter with a complete bill of health. They had cleaned everything inside and out professionally. It was like I purchased a new scope after they got done with it and contractually, they didn't have to do ANYTHING on it. They did it because they have the best CS in the business.
Both scopes are tough as nails, so you don't have to worry about dropping them.
Additionally, NF only makes 1 (or 2) FFP scopes. So you are very limited in your options if you want FFP. USO will make any scope they offer either FFP or SFP. So if you want FFP, USO is way to go.
Best of luck with your optic shopping!
. I'm very interested in putting it up against my NXS.
