Bought a 2012 X2. It carries the same weight as my Badlands 2200 but tighter and more comfortably. As far as scopes, my 80mm Swarovski will fit BARELY into the side hydration pocket if I take off the Swaovski cordura protective cover. Since I like the protective cover, and figure I'll rapidly get fed up with trying to wiggle the scope into such a tight fit in hunting conditions, I opted to put the scope in the batwing pocket and let the cordura cover protect it, which is its function anyway. Plus, rapid access to scope/tripod combo makes for faster set-up. The tripod is in the other batwing pocket. if you have a 65mm spotter or smaller, it would fit perfectly in the side hydration pocket.
The squeaking has been fixed, it was a strap-routing issue, and the harness pocket is now ideal for what I use it for, which is to hold my iPhone and/or RINO GPS.
Overall, highly recommend as an extended day pack for technical conditions.