I have an older Vari X III 4.5-14x40AO with target dot reticle on one of my 17 HMR's and for shooting sage rats (Beldings Ground Squirrels) which aren't very big, especially when the new hatch are out, it works pretty good. But, that's not a gun I shoot particularly far so even though sage rats can present a pretty small target the dot doesn't cover anything up.
For a scope that you dial up and down for elevation I suppose a dot would be ok but I wouldn't trust a Leupold Vari X III to be repeatable enough to use it for dialing elevation with any kind of regularity.
Probably my biggest issue with using a target dot reticle is they aren't the greatest for hold over shooting because there are no reference marks, just the one dot. It's great to have that uncluttered view but even for my use it would be nice to have a couple other reference marks for quick holder shooting.
The Leupold target dot reticle is a good useable size, not to big nor so small you struggle to see it. Years ago I had a Weaver with their fine crosshair target dot and dang it was, often, a real beech just to see it it was so fine and small. The Leupold is much easier to see.