Is Vortex's lifetime warranty actually worth something?

Across multiple specialist-community threads, Vortex's VIP warranty comes up repeatedly as a real differentiator at the budget and mid-tier price points, with users reporting no-questions replacements even on user-damaged units. It is one of the most-cited reasons reviewers recommend the Crossfire HD and Triumph HD lines over cheaper unbranded Amazon optics, where warranty support is effectively nonexistent.