They are mostly low price and Another element often overlooked is the loss of light through each set of lenses. A plain fixed scope only has two lenses-one at each end. A fixed power with AO adds one more. A plain variable has at least three lenses, and the fourth for the AO or paralax ring. You will lose light with each pass through a lens--no doubt about it. More $$$ is required to put extra polishing and coatings on these lenses to reduce reflected light loss. Not many people are willing to do that. Those same people wind up complaining about them most of the time. In the the end, the old parable "you get what you pay for" almost always applies with optics.
