First off - Welcome to the fire!
For the money it is really hard to beat the Vortex brand at this point. For their respective pricepoints they have very nice glass FOR MY EYES - your's may disagree. They're warranty is amazing by the way - I had a pair of Eagle Optics Denali (affiliate of Vortex) 7x32's and took a spill on them hunting - had a replacement pair within 3-5 working days. My youngest son has them and they are still a very sweet bin for the $97 I paid for them about 5 years ago.
A word of caution, it sounds like you want a pair of bins right now instead of waiting. I spent the better part of a year looking through, handling and comparing bins side to side. I didn't want to spend $1500/$1800 on a pair of bins and after spending the time, I realized I didn't have to - for my needs and purposes. My eyes really liked the Zeiss Conquest 8x30, and since I didn't really want to drop $550 at the time, I made a another sacrifice and traded a gun for a NIB pair at a large gun/optics shop.
That being said, I don't subscribe to the fact that everyone needs to buy the best optics out there, just the best for their eyes, that they can afford, that suit their purposes. I've handled just about everything out there and 2 years later don't regret my decision at all.
Take your time, save your money (or do some horse trading) and get the bins your eyes, hands and wallet want. If it takes you 2-3 months to research and track down these bins - so be it.
Good luck in your decision.
NH Hunter
