Couldn't agree more with the previous contributors -- the sad thing is that the guideline changed form "fit for the lab" to "adequate for the sales department". Probably, this happened alongside the decay of the sales prices of the insruments (and increase of the sales numbers), so nowadays the average instruments availabe to the hobbyist provide a performance level that previously had been available only to the professionals, prepared to spend a small fortune on their instruments. Still, this doesn't legitimate (IMO) the approach to "bend" specs and characteristics to best meet the market.
We, on the other side of the "supply chain", may have more power than we anticipate -- if we don't buy a certain product, the manufacturer will run into trouble sooner or later and will be forced to take care of the market more respectfully.
What really makes me wonder behind all this questionnaire is: Why don't the major TE manufacturers openly make use of a forum like this (maybe they do so in secrecy), with all its "power-users" and professionals around, to test their future entry and mid range level products for fitness to the market, or to put it differently, to use it as an inspiration for their design engineers, to match a product just to the demands of the potential users? There's so much knowledge and experience accumulated among the subscribers to this forum that I'ld really consider it unwise of the manufacturers to disregard this possible input to their design commitee.
Of course, it would require considerable experience on behalf of the manufacturers to distinguish between "noise" and real, useful information when skimming any forum, but anyway, I think a manufacturer, doing this seriousy, could gain a lot of invaluable information from places like this!
Whatsoever, I don't think my reasoning will change anything, but, at lest now I feel satisfied to have made my thoughts available to scrutiny regarding this issue, after having enjoyed almost half a bottle of brandy (...for different reasons...)
-- so bear with me.
Cheers, Tom