The difference between the SLC and the EL is overall negligible in my mind. Both are top of the heap along with leica and zeiss. I preffered the edge to edge clarity and the way they held while glassing So I bought EL. Money is an object for me, and yes I could have saved money and got the SLC, but had the funds budgeted for EL I didnt want to look back and think "what if".
That said, I have made do on leupy Cascades for ten years. I have chosen to upgrade other gear, or buy out of state tags rather than upgrade the binos. So the jump was huge, I spent more time glassing this season and the enjoyment out of glassing was out of this world no comparison. If I had upgraded sooner to a less expensive pair the struggle over the extra grand would have been tougher Im sure. But to me I had saved for the EL budget and going into testing with the money not an issue really helped me to objectivley look through all the upper end stuff. All are truly great If I owned SLC I would not buy EL, not owning any good binos made the decision easy for me.