The first thing you have to remember about binoculars is "everything is relative". My first pair were a £50 Olympus pair of 8x21 and I thought they were great, until I tried something better. Then I thought they were terrible.
More recently I have been using a pair of 8x42 Nikon Prostaff 3S. They were about £130 and compared to the Olympus it was night and day - lovely to hold super clear image, fantastic. Problem with the Nikons was a) my wife and I were constantly fighting over them whenever something interesting appeared in the garden, b) they were too heavy to lug around when we went for a walk.
So, feeling flush because we haven't been out for an entire year, I thought I'd splash out on a lighter "next grade up" pair of binoculars that we could use in the house and also out for a walk. I did loads and loads of reading and research and settled on something in the 8x32 class with a higher grade of prisms / coating etc compared to the Nikons.
Among 8x32s I looked at Opticron Discovery around the 140 mark and dismissed them as they just don't feel as solid, quality build, although they are very light <400g. I was also tempted by the Celestron Trailseekers which I didn't try but get great reviews, are only £150 here, and are pretty light at around 450g. And also the Hawke Endurance ED which are I think around £180 and also get great reviews but are heavier at around 560g. In the end I plumped for these because I saw so many good reviews of them. My sense from all the reviews I read was the Hawkes are marginally better than the Vortex, which is itself better than the Celestrons, although I'm not sure they're £50 worth of better if I'm honest. The Vortex's seem a little bit more solid and quality feeling, but I didn't compare the optics.
Anyway, all I have currently to test them against are the Nikon Prostaff 8x42. What's interesting is the image with the Vortex compared to the Nikon's is definitely brighter and sharper, despite 32 vs 42 diameter lens. So the higher quality optics does show itself. In terms of the weight though - 460 vs 565g you actually struggle to notice the difference, so I'm not sure it's worth worrying too much about the weight.
Anyway, I really like them. They feel like they'll last forever and they're nice to use. My only reservation is that I I don't think they are particularly great value for money at £199 compared to other options. In particular if you don't care about the extra weight the Hawke Endurance EDs are cheaper and have better optics.
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