Can you recommend where to shop?
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Eurooptic tends to have good prices for new. That's usually the first place I'll check for any optic. OpticsPlanet has some good prices on some things, but they're notorious for taking ages to ship, including not always making it clear they don't have an item in-stock.
You can also get some great deals here on Rokslide on used - lots of guys wanting to upgrade their glass will sell their older optics. This has been happening fairly regularly as guys get into the somewhat newly-released Swarovski NL Pures, and offloading their ELs - which are still some of the best glass in the world - and other very high-end optics. I've seen some posted on here for right around your price range. The only issue is that you're taking risk with used, both from scammers and with hidden, undisclosed, or unnoticed problems.
Someone above mentioned Tract, and I'll add Maven to that as well. Both are companies that don't sell to retailers - they're direct to consumer, and cost significantly less for the performance they give because of that.
I recently purchased a pair of 18x Mavens from a Rokslider here, used. They're excellent so far, and I had a good experience with the seller, finding no unexpected problems from usage. Got them for about 65-70% of retail.
Best way to approach getting high-quality used would be to keep your eye on the Optics classifieds here for a few weeks, get a feel for the market, research optics you see come up to learn more about the field, and be ready to jump on a good deal when it arises.
IIRC, there's also a couple of smaller optics retailers that take trade-ins and/or have demo models you can pick up at some good prices. Just can't remember any off the top of my head here...
