I also wonder what the pessimism is all about. Do you remember what we were raving about two years ago??
Today's reps are heads and tails above them. I too complain about the price, but I live in the US so I'm always complaining about the price of things that come from abroad.
Price aside, I still have my enthusiasm for the current crop of reps. I wish I was starting out now, Instead of having 70+ reps that are at least a year, and sometimes 5 years old. My collection would be extremely accurate.
There are still a ton of great reps for under $250. I was still happy to pay $400 for a great Pam rep 2-3 years ago!
So from my point of view, reps have gone up like everything else, but comparatively speaking, they're still a great deal!
Maybe the pessimism comes from Overload?