Gotta love the markup on stuff like that. They're clearly still making money on the $99 sales.
Reminds me of the extortionate prices of lab equipment when I was working at a uni. Stirrer hot plates being one of the items that made me angry. They're just a hot plate with a magnetic part spinning under the plate so you can pop a stirrer bar in the flask and get things stirring. Not sure I saw even the basic models under around £300.
EDITED: 3 Feb 2015 23:33 by ANT_THOMAS