I always carry that one stepfurther. I say determine the most you can spend... and then step up a level. You'll never regret it. After looking through my Swarovskis for several years now I find it amazing how much difference therecan be when someone sticks a cheaper set in my face. The nice thing today,the second tierof optics manufacturers have really improved the quality of some of their optics. It's not necessary to plunk down $1,000-1500 to get a good set of binos. Nikon, Brunton, etc have some decent optics.