It's the difference of a half pound that makes me curious. The glass lenses are probably the heaviest part of the sub-assemblies in a scope, the tube being the second heaviest. Even doubling the thickness of a scope tube would "only" add a few more ounces. The erector assembly is obviously made of very small parts, changing them from synthetic to metal doesn't seem to account for the significant increase in weight.
Maybe they quadruple the thickness of the tube.
I wonder what a scope would cost if the metal parts were made of titanium......
