The only way to know this 100% is to find someone near you that is really good at picking country apart with alpha glass and sit next to them for a few hours. Can you see why they see in their alpha glass? Your eyes are the determining factor. What other people see when they look through binos makes no difference unfortunately.
For me, my Swaro ELs are 100% worth the money. They were a lifetime purchase.
A lot of what you're looking for in finding insight and answers does depend on what you expect to do with your optics. The greater the functional demands, the more the ROI on expensive, high-quality optics.
Out west, mostly in vast sage country and some juniper, I might spend 10 hours or more a day looking through optics for mule deer. Piecing apart entire hillsides, shadow by shadow, looking for antler tines, hooves, ears, or the slightest flicker of movement. I can tell you, with low-quality optics that might just very well be unhealthy for the eyes, physically. The better the quality, the longer you can go before eyestrain and even headaches start setting in.
But if I was in big timber, or in a tree stand? Different ballgame, with what may be lower or different demands on the optics. Lightweight may be more important depending on the hunt terrain, or extreme low-light capability, or especially with bowhunting, something that will work well one-handed and unsupported at closer distances on a stalk.
It starts with being as honest with yourself as possible - through experience to the greatest degree possible - in what you actually need that glass to do for you.
Forgot to add: avoid trash at the bottom - they all use the worst glass and the worst coatings and are aimed at guys who don’t know any better, or have limited budgets (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Where the trash ends and the next tier of quality starts is different for each company, but there are no hidden gems in the trash - if something was halfway decent it would be in at least a middle tier.
Buying middle tier and above used, means you can use them, compare with other models, sell when something better comes along, and get all your original money out. Free optics. Who can’t afford free? Who doesn’t want to test drive good stuff for free?
All good stuff from these three.
I believe it was on here, I agreed with, find your price and then ..... add 25/50 more. If you have binoculars, wait until you find those optics. I'm not a buy once cry once guy, sometimes you need something, but you aren't at the place to buy what you want, (life with homes, kids, bills, etc.)
Are you a tinkerer? Do you replace things a lot, looking for the next best/greatest? Go with Zeiss, Swaro and Leica, they hold their values better than the others for when you want to upgrade. Don't be fooled by forever warranty, you don't want your favorite binoculars in the shop during hunting season, "Yeah, but I've got a forever warranty." Ok, bud, see how that works while they are in the shop for months.
I bought used swaro's, I wasn't going to spend the money for new. I could, I just wasn't, law of ROI for me. I have awful eyes, I need the better glass, my eyes do anyway. I can certainly tell a difference. I've looked through Vortex, Maven's, Steiners (years ago bought 10x50 marines), own 10x50 Nikons (cheap glass and you can tell, relegated to viewing out the back windows at home), own 10x50 leuy's, nope, junk for my eyes, my wife likes them ok. I went SLC for low light, great quality hd glass and I found the deal I wanted. win/win.
The ROI is only on you and what you do with them and how your eyes are, plus your financial situation. Go back and read the guys I copied to this post, they are telling you something you need to hear.
I will say this, if you hunt a lot of different areas, it will be hard to find one pair that will do everything. Don't look at what you may do, look at what you do! I hunt woods, green fields, power lines, soy bean fields, I hunt until dark and I start very early. I need low light, great optics, a wide field of view, and quality, it better work when I need it, warranties don't help me from October-May (March-April, turkeys). I may hunt out West one day, then, I'll buy glass/spotter for there, I know where and what I hunt.