I have the HG's in 8x and compared them to the SLC's before I bought them. The Swaro's may have been just a tad better optically in one or two areas, but the weight and size of the HG's were an advantage to me and the FOV of the HG's is better at 435 vs. 408 for the SLC.
With the recent sales LL Bean was having offering the 8x HG's for $735, personally there is no possible way I'd pay $1000 more for SLC's. The optical difference is only a mere couple % one way or the other.
Although many feel the Allbino's site may be biased, Allbino's rated the HG's only 0.8 point below the SLC. If you update that HG score to reflect the Nikon Lifetime No Fault Warranty instead of the 10 year warranty that they docked it 1.5 points for, the HG then scores higher than the SLC and puts it into 4th place overall. Pretty impressive company on that list.
Binoculars rankings - 10x42 - AllBinos.com