Great post and thanks for writing what we all know is true as it is a n addiction to be sure .
Over the many years I started with the horrible .965 H12.5 , Sr4 types and they were really , really bad but after a few years Plossl,s became available in NZ , even in 1 1\4 inch size
Woaw ! And like you got a full set 6-40 mm so was set for life ( hell no
).
Fast forward 25 years and Naglers , Panoptic , Radians , Meade Series 5000-6000 , ES 68-84* sets , Orthoscopics , and every thing in between now most sold yes , man its like a drug , bad .
Then. 2 years ago I grabbed a 32mm TV plossl and liked it so much I now have a set 8-40mm and find that these get most use .
Less is more and I am happy
( for now )
Brian.