FWIW, I started out w/ a Tasco 6-24x TR scope way back in high school. For ~$140, it got the job done. That rifle and scope are long gone, but about 4-5 years ago, I picked up NIB SS10x42. That scope has seen some hard use, mainly from being tossed in the back seat, drug thru brush while scouting deer or hunting coyotes, etc. It's maybe not the clearest scoep in the world, like a S&B or the like, but for the price tag, it is pretty good. Never had any real problems w/ it. The turret clicks get a little mushy from time to time, but taking the turret caps off and cleaning them out and keeping the O-rings lubed usually cures that. About two weeks ago, I thought it had finally gone south on me, as it did the mystery adjustment (i.e. you count clicks, adjust the scope, and it's a mystery where in the heck the shots went) trick while at the range. Re-boresighted it, and tried adjusting again. No problems. Took it out the next weekend and exercised the turrets fairly well. Shot a box just fine. Went up 8 moa, down 8 moa, up, down, etc. It kept sticking the shots in the same little hole every time, right where they were supposed to go. Only thing that was 'different' about the time it went silly was I had adjusted both windage and elevation at the same time before shooting. I'll have to pound on it some more, and see what happens.
Other than that, I have a Tasco World Class 10-40x50mm (don't ask, bad impulse purchase) that I can't even hardly *give* away. I finally (almost) had it sold, picked it up to look at it for some reason, and noticed a slight rattle in the front ocular. I'm going to wait abit and see if Tasco recovers; if not I'll probably eat the $25 and send it to the place that is doing some repair work on Tasco scopes.
Monte