From my experience, I use my binoculars at least 95% of the time and my spotter hardly ever comes out of my pack. I would spend your entire budget on binoculars. I am an admitted Swarovski fanboy. When I finally got sick of buying a "little bit better" glass each year and worked a little more overtime and bought a pair of Swarovski 10X42s, I realized that I had been very foolish to have tried to save a little money. While I have tried a bunch of the newest ideas over the years and then realized just what a waste of money it was, I have never regretted the money that I have spent on really good glass.
Todays lower tier glass is way better than it used to be but Alpha glass is still Alpha glass. I run Swarovski binoculars, most of my rifles wear Swarovski glass and my my spotter is the Maven S1a and they serve my purposes well.
Get out and look through some good glass and have fun.
A good pair of binoculars is a lifetime purchase.