First and foremost is your intended use and imaging needs - both now and in the foreseeable future. If all of them have scopes that can do what you want, then move to the following points but bear in mind that they must have everything you need available now - don’t assume things will come in the future. So get that info from the reps.
All those manufacturers have good customer support networks - so that box is ticked.
Price - not just for the scope(s) but for ongoing support and servicing. Look at long term and ongoing costs - is the software licensed by date (i.e. needs to be renewed each year?).
All the above factors being acceptable, get your hands on a demo scope from a rep and see how you feel using it. Then buy the one you like the best. The ergonomics of these scopes do vary by manufacturer (this includes the illumination characteristics for direct vision - something you can’t tell from pictures).
Also, if you want digital imaging, make sure you see actual examples of images of your specimens (or similar specimens) - specs can be very deceptive here.
Watch out for incompatibilities - if your institute uses Zeiss software image archiving or whatever, don’t assume that a Nikon system will smoothly integrate into it - or vice versa - the changes are it will be a nightmare (or impossible) getting two proprietary systems to talk to each other.
Also - don’t get side stepped by gimmicks promoted by reps. Have a well-defined idea of what you really need for your work. If WiFi/Bluetooth image broadcasting and an eco-bulb sensor were not part of your original spec then that shouldn’t sway your decision.
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