What's the deal with M49 spotting scopes?

[phridum]

http://cgi.ebay.com/M42A1-TRIPOD-CA...ryZ30094QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MEWA:IT&viewitem=&item=280134406159&rd=1&rd=1

Are these items really worth this much? I know that brand new complete setups of this style are quite nice, but this is just the tripod. I would be hard pressed spending this much on the whole shebang of the M49.

What's the deal?

 

[Omnivore]

A scope that you will actually want to use will cost several hundred at the very least. The nice ones are around $1K and up. Trust me-- I've gone cheap and I won't do it again.