I wouldn’t worry about them being bulky. They are a little heavy, but since they are shorter than similar scopes the weight is between the hands more than with other scopes. The 2-12 on my .223 sits right between the grip and mag and I shoot NTCH. The 3-18 on my .308 DPMS sits just a little further. I fing both to actually balance better than other scopes I have used.
The glass is really nice and it makes for a much more enjoyable shooting experience and I find I suffer a lot less eye fatigue when looking through the scopes for longer periods of time.
With the 2-12 I was seeing .223 bullet holes at 100 yards real easy today. Shooting at a steel silhouette at 250 I could spot bullet hits easily.
As I said the sweet spot is big on this. I was using the 2-12 on our qual course and from 25 to 100 I was faster than everyone else on line by several seconds in running the drills. The scope just draws your eye to the center of the reticle and with a consistent cheek weld makes it easy to shoot and shoot fast. Inside 25 yards I used my fastfire–I still need some work with that as I don’t think I find it quick enough yet.
As for the cost, that’s up to you but I have no buyer remorse with either of my IOR’s. If you are in Missouri and want to check mine out, you are more than welcome.