Because their marketing department is smarter.
The reviews of the CL line haven't exactly been stellar, and they cost $900, and that bin was marketed at giving buyers an "affordable" bin to "introduce [them] to the Swarovski family of optics.".
If I were a newbie and picked up a CL and didn't like it, I'd wonder if it would be worth paying more than twice as much for their top of the line model once my wallet was thicker. Even though the CL Is not "cheap" in the sense of being inexpensive or in the sense of being cheaply made, it has disappointed some birders who have tried it (and one who sang its praises until it was labeled "second tier" and then dropped it like a hot potato"-).
But that never happened, because most newebies can't afford or just new to the hobby wouldn't buy a $900 bin. Most of the people who bought the CLs on BF were already Swarovski bin owners who use the in in adjunct to their top model.
Zeiss already has the CL segment covered by the Conquest HD line, and from the reviews, covered better than Swarovski, with both full sized and midsized models.
Nikon makes everything from cheap non-p coated roofs (Trailblazer) to the $200 Prostaff 7 to the $300 Monarch, the best selling all-purpose bin (at least in the US), to the $400 ED roof to compete with Zen Ray, Vortex and the like, a mid-tier $1,000+ Premier line, some of the best rated compacts, and the $2K+ EDG, which goes head to head with the alphas, and according to some reviewers is better than the competition.
I never head anyone say, oh, Nikon makes cheap bins so I'm not going to buy an EDG.
A "cheaper" bin is only really "cheap" in the negative sense if it's junk. If it's
inexpensive, which I think is the operating word here with the Terra ED, but works well, it could actually have the opposite impact. A young birder, for example, who can't afford to buy an FL, HT or Conquest HD, will probably be able to afford a Zeiss Terra ED if he saves up his quarters in his pig's feet jar. If the Terra ED is well made and he likes it, that's going to get the name ZEISS in this head instead of Nikon or Bushnell or Vortex.
So when he gets a good job and is able to move up, he might buy a Zeiss Conquest HD, or if he gets a job in the shale gas industry, an FL or an HT.
I referred to the Terra ED as a "noble experiment," but it's also a way to get consumers hooked on a brand when their wallets are still thin. It's also about building brand loyalty from the bottom up.
But some users may never be able to afford "the best" and may well be contented with the Terra ED and whatever else comes next from Zeiss at this price point, or as you so aptly put it in the vernacular: "They rarely move from the cheap pair into Alphas, so they know of no different."
But more people buy inexpensive bins than $2k+ bins, so there's potential for volume sales, and that helps Zeiss boost its bottom line, something its shareholders will appreciate. The fact that Zeiss is already a well known name in optics adds to the Terra ED's appeal rather than detracts from it except for snobs who only buy "the best" and for those who are worried that their Zeiss stock might go down under. :gh:
Juanita and I and others have already given the pro and con arguments about why the Terra ED (which, as Stephen Ingraham has said, "is no Diafun") might either help or hurt the company after the bin was announced, so much of this is re-fried boogie, but ultimately, the proof is in the who-pudding. :eat: B
Now that the Terra ED is becoming available, we can put our conjectures aside and watch how this thing actually plays out.
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