In my opinion you should spend as much as you can afford even if it means getting a better quality second hand set. Leica trinovid, older swarovski and Zeiss come up often. If I remember correctly there were a set of vixen for sale here for $400? Fantastic value for money and good buying at that price. Other brands worth a mentioning are meopta the Zen Ray in either ED3 or 4 are really good value however you will have to buy them os as I don't know of anyone in Australia stocking them. Depending on how serious you are about hunting, optics are a investment rather than an expense which is what I see in my Swarovski EL range. As the term goes, buy once cry once!