Smart Motor hopes dashed

in recounting to you guys the wonderfulness (is that a real word...?)
of smart motors and me deciding to go with them as my solution to a
cnc retrofit, i finally decided to call them and place an order...
well, when i called animatics for a quote they shuffled me off to a
distributor near me (i personally hate the distributorship model of
sales), so i called the distributor and for the 625 oz-in. mid-size
nema34 motor, i was quoted $1500 per motor!!! with the smallest (aka
weakest) motors starting at $500...

sakes alive, i about wet myself when i heard that price... and i
became instantly disheartened at the hopes that a simplistic solution
to my cnc retrofit was crushed by the daunting price per motor... i
personally think that those prices are outrageous for any motors
actually, but hey, that's just me... don't some of these companies
know that they can have a large potential hobbiest market out there
if they charged a little, er, well, A LOT less for stuff like this...
sorry, that's my frustration talking...

oh well, its back to plan b... hey, any of you guys have those black
boxes finished yet...? hehehehe...