heh -- so I looked it up.
JD Power sez: MSRP of base F-150 XLT pickup in 1995: $14,256
Google sez: MSRP of base F-150 XLT pickup in 2022: $39,165
Those Swarovskis are lookin' better
all the time!
Have you considered a "spotting scope"?
Talkin' 'bout pricey options
Yup, great to have (depending on one's 'use case') but worth buying a good one. And good ones are... not inexpensive. Nor (and sorry to be redundant) are good tripods.
That said, Mrs H's 80 mm Swarovski has been getting the job done for nigh-on 30 years (and travel ca. half-way around the globe, to some pretty inhospitable locations), so, again, the
value proposition is there, I would argue.
Oh, just want to add one valedictory
comment.
@Blumlein 88 mentioned the value-add in the higher-priced optics, and explained it quite well. I did want to mention one slightly ineffable (is that an oxymoron?) feature of top-quality optics vs. good optics in my experience: the complete lack of any sense of "eye strain" (for lack of a better term) when viewing through superb optics (binos or scope). One's eyes feel as relaxed looking through the device as they do without it. I always have some sense of strain or distortion with lesser instruments. That sounds snobbier than it's actually meant to! If the OP gets the chance to compare the view through a pair of $300 vs. $3000 binos, though, I suspect he/she/they will experience what I do, too!
EDIT: PS I think it's hard to blind test optics, unfortunately!