Just to throw another wrench into things how are Carson rated to these? I've been reading they have a new High Def coating?? I was looking at the XM series and they seem on ave around 50-100 less than the monarchs or pentax.
I will readily admit I have no experience with the Carson series of bins. They do come highly recommended from a few folks over on AT and opticstalk. Their brightness levels are advertised as relatively high compared to similarly price optics. Beyond that I cannot comment.
My new "bin of favor" are the Vortex Razors. However, even at their demo price they are a bit above what you were looking to pay. However, I did see the Viper model, same high quality ED style glass and coatings with a somewhat narrower field of view compared to the Razor, on demo sale for about $350.
On the other hand I do like the other folks' suggestions. The Pentax SP series are superb binoculars. I owned the 8x32 for a time and it probably is my current favorite "sub-$800" 8x32 roof prism glass. The 8x43 model offers basically the same image qualities but with a slightly narrower field of view.
And, again, the 7x42 Discoverers are also one of those rare gems that folks tend to overlook possibly because of either the weight or the 7x magnification...neither of which really takes away from their performance or appeal in my opinion.