I will say my own experience with optics, granted it's mostly rifle optics, is to buy quality, and you buy once. Cheaper optics, even one considered fairly good, will often still fail under hard use.
I would not balk at spending $500-1000 on an optic, including a set of binoculars, it will be high quality glass, I won't have to worry about it breaking, and I will be able to pass it on to my children and grandchildren. I am not rich by any means, and a high quality optic might be a good chunk of a months pay, or more than that.