Hi HereSkip...
With my fading eyesight, im a fan of the higher end magnificatiin, so id look at a minimum of 12x for the upper end of zoom range.
Ive had great sucess with bushnell elite 4500 4-16x40 day & night...& i picked one for under $500...a really great optic with 25mm choob for that money if you can get one.
If shooting mostly at night, personally i wouldnt be looking for a very fine reticle, rather you want something with contrast so a medium to thick-ish crosshair is better.
I particularly shoot a lot of bunnies & a few foxes out to 120ish to 150ish yds respectively in the spray of the light as they tend to be light shy these days.
If you use this technique you'll find you will need a medium to heavy reticle for contrast.
It slso helps for super quick target aquisition for those rapid poke out the window on the trott shots.
Not sure whats available in your price point, but i know some of the zeiss range are a heavy reticle.
With only a hornet, a heavy reticle will still be ok during daylight also...
Hope that helps. Cheers
The man who knows everything, doesnt really know everything...he's just stopped learning...