In my humble opinion, you get what you pay for with optics. That being said, we're all on a budget, so spend the most you can without taking food from the kids mouths.
I personally bought the Zeiss Classics from Cabelas for $700. They are the best optics I have ever used. Now, they are not swarovski's, but back to the budget thing, they aren't 1200 bucks either.
Good luck on your search. Try searching the archives here at MM, I know there has been some good discussions on various types of optics in the past.