To each their own, but a couple years ago I spent many moons comparing mid-range bino optics (light gathering, clarity, weight, blah blah.....). What I thought was the best mid-range deal for the quality of the optics was the Pentax DCF 10 x 42s that I ended up purchasing from Cameraland (thru ebay, they're located in Manhattan, N.Y. and offered the best deals AND when I spoke with them they also beat the next lower price for these binocs....good folks to deal with).
One thing I did was go to a camera shop and put one set of binocs on top of another and then set them on a counter and pointed them to an object outside the store about 300 yds. away. That allowed me to look thru one, then quickly switch to the other set and look thru them at the same object. This made it really easy to compare the light gathering, clarity of the lenses. Then I took the best of those two types and put another type on top and repeated that scenario. Course, the Swaroskis and Zeiss were a little better than the Pentaxs, but I wasn't going to fork out another $700 for the small difference in clarity/light gathering, the diff wasn't worth the money to a small time deer hunter like me. If I were a guide, I would've spent the extra dollars I'm sure. The Leticas were in the $700 range but to me seemed no better than the Pentax's at all.
Anywho, I have zero complaints about these binocs and am happy I bought them and wouldn't hesitate to buy em again if I lost my pair. Good luck to you in your choice.