Thanks for info,the bino's are in mint shape and I did get them for $750. Haven't received them yet but am really anxious to look through a high end bino for the first time since all I've known so far are used $50 ones. Planning to compare them to the victory FL and see for myself the comparison. Would an untrained eye spot the real difference between mid range and high end bino's without having them side by side??
Hoferwill
Your question may seem a simple one but its very difficult to answer. Much depends on what you mean by an untrained eye.
It also depends on what you consider important when looking through bins. What would you compare between bins? Field of view or sharpness in the centre? Brightness or sharpness at the edge? All of these or something else the ability to not show glare in difficult lighting conditions?
Lets say you prioritise sharpness. Pickup a $300 bin and check out feather structure on birds at your bird feeder or ducks in your local park. Do the same with a $900 bin and I would expect you to easily see that the details are more sharply rendered in the more expensive bins and more sharply again if you go to $1500.
But be aware that I am generalising an awful lot here. Less expensive bins have made great strides in recent years and the top ones less so because they were pretty good already. At the top end the improvements tend to be incremental, lower down the price range, more noticeable.
Going back to your question about needing poor conditions to see the difference between a great bin and a more modest one, you asked how can you justify spending the $$. There are many intricate issues in your question. But I will ask you back, what is the point in spending money on bins that only perform well in ideal conditions? This is the other side of the question you asked. I would say that (generalising again) the better the bins the better they hold up their performance when conditions get tough. When you go out into the country to use bins does the sky never get dark, does it never rain? If it does, don't you still want to tell which Loon you are looking at in the distance through the rain?
No body can tell you how to justify spending your own money. But to try to answer your question about an untrained eye, you need to write down what is important to you: sharpness, colour, field of view, edge sharpness, brightness, close focus, handling. When you have a rough idea of what is important check out some bins and make notes on how they stand up against your requirements and take the notes with you when you test other bins: its difficult to carry accurate memories of how bins perform so the notes will be helpful. By doing this you will be able to 'train your eye'.
Lee