Maximum zoom power

[spoiler559]

What is everyone's thought on max power needed on your rifle scopes. Mainly used for target shooting say 5-700 yards. I notice I really don't zoom any further than 12X. Is there a benefit on getting my next scope that maxes out around 12X. Or even down to 10X? What benefits would I gain by not having/using the any power above 10-12X. Was thinking about getting something more on the lines of vortex pst ffp 2.5-10. How is that any better than a scope that lets say powers up to 16 or 20?

[ElvenSoul]

Weight and balance is the first thing that comes to mind

Most of these big scopes are like 2lbs +

[acourvil]

Depends on what kind of target you are shooting and what kind of accuracy you are chasing. It's pretty hard to make small adjustaments at long range if you can't see the difference. At 700 yards, there is a big difference in what you can see between 12x and 24x. If you are trying to move from a 10-ring shot to the X, you can't see the difference at 12x. Or at least my 56 year old eyes can't. If you are just shooting steel, 12x is o.k. at that distance.

[ExtremeX]

Size & Weight are probably the biggest advantages depending on what options you are looking at.

I don't always NEED more than 8x-12x, but almost all my scopes are of the 5-20x variety. Last time out I was shooting 900 yards at about 10x, but often times zoomed to 20x to see the splash on the steel target or to measure correction on paper targets.

Even at 100 yards, shooting groups or doing load dev, ill use my max magnification on the optic.

Its really an application and preference question... they all have their merits.