I paid 550.00 for mine here off the rokslide classified ads so I got an extremely good deal, before those I had a pair of vortex viper HD 10x42 (japan made) I still have them but I end up leaving them in the truck or letting my wife use them now. For me, I'm finding that I like the 8x of the conquest better than 10x, I'd never have believed it until I actually switched, I feel like I can look through them all day, I also feel that the conquest glass is a bit better than the Japanese vortex glass, if its worth 2x the price at retail, that's up to you to decide. as far as weight and feel, its a wash.
The things I dont like about the Conquest are very few, firstly, I hate the lense covers it comes with, I'd imagine I could find something to replace them but I havnt bothered yet, also the focus knob seems very easy to turn, like really really easy to turn, one guy here said he sent his to Zeiss and they fixed that for him.
Thats about it, In my opinion they are worth the asking price, but ill also add that while im not a Votex fan, I really dont have any complaints about my viper HDs.