My personal experience, both from a buyer/owner standpoint, as well as having the privilege to have some views through others top end glass, is that good quality Porro Prism binoculars, at least optically, give so, so much more for your money. No, the ruggedness and handling cannot compete with most Roof Prism's, but the optical value per dollar cannot be ignored. They also provide superior 3D views up close, and suffer from much less light loss through the prism system (modern phase coatings have greatly helped roof prisms though).
I know firsthand the embarrassment, after spending a sizeable amount of money on a pair of roof prisms with ED glass, glowing reviews from all on Cloudynights, and an MSRP around $1000 (I didn't pay that), of having a $180 pair of Nikon's Porro Prisms, with similar mag and aperture, going toe to toe with more expensive roofs. My Minox BD 8X44 BP's also perform similar to roof's costing 3 times as much.
The problem though? The market for high quality Porro Prism's is simply not there. At this point it's relegated to the cheap Bushnell's/Tasco's, middle ground binos like Nikon Action EX and Pentax WPII, and large aperture astronomy binoculars (Oberwerk, TS Service). Old classics like the Swift Autobaun, and Doctor Nobliem's are long out of production, and can only be found used.
The good news though, is in recent years, high quality roof prisms have become much more affordable. I can remember a time 15 years ago where any roofs under $500 weren't even worth looking at. Now, that can buy you a lot of bino.
