i went hunting this past weekend with my friend. he let me borrow a pair of his binoculars. i think it's time for me to get my own. i was looking at these to start with:
Vortex Crossfire 8x42
Leupold Acadia 8x42
Celestron Outland LX 8x42
and if i'm not mistaken, i think these all have a no fault lifetime warranty.
any thoughts or opinions on these would be a great help

Spend the most you can. It'll be cheaper to buy a great pair today, then to buy / replace the pair you buy in the near future with a better pair down the road...

If hunting out west, 10x42 are what I like, though I've heard lower quality binos show more probs in the 10x vs. the 8x

But either way 10x42 or 8x42 is a good setup.

I think one of the best for the money are Pentax dcf sp 10x43, but they're close to $600 I believe.

Agreed....Pentax have been producingone the best bino models for the moneygoing on for about probably for the last 4-5 years in the SP series and the now discontinued DCF WP series.
Its the only Pentaxthing I own.
I really don't care for anything else they make.

I'd suggest you check out this place: http://www.cameralandny.com/demos.html

Don't be scared-off by the astronomical prices of their top-end stuff: he's got some tremendous prices on the entry-level stuff, too. Most of all, though, you owe it to yourself to call Doug at the toll-free number, & let him know what you're interested in, how you hunt, where you hunt, etc. He won't steer you wrong, and you'll get a heck of deal, no matter what you choose. Plus, they stand behind what they sell: I've never heard of anyone who didn't have an excellent experience with them.

FC