I would assume they are trying to copy the look in order to get people to look at them. Actually I am not sure why they look alike. I just picked up a SL 1600 for 90$. Runs like a watch and it came with a new Shure M95 ed. Only have it for three weeks so I can't attest to it's logetivity but; so far so good. They are out there and pretty cheap. The SL 1600 series is the same arm as the SL 1200. And it has the pitch control. I am not so thrilled that it is semi-automatic; I may disable that feature. But it sounds real nice. I only bought it because I want to try the silicon paddle modification to the arm and the DC speed controller outboard. Something to play with. One thing I forgot to address. If you have a lot of albums that kind of tweaks the equation some; you want to preserve them if possible and that means a good arm is a neccessary.