Sure I'm not saying that. If you give away the R&D for free and don't seek profit you can build it much cheaper. But self-calibrating is still something else.

Sure I'm not saying that. If you give away the R&D for free and don't seek profit you can build it much cheaper. But self-calibrating is still something else. Unless I pay some lab with traceable calibration to do it for me I can't use the results to certify other equipment for example. I think it's more like insurance, sure the unit cost is low but you pay extra so in case the lab screws up they pay for the mess.