So, Ye Optic Gods?

I think the general point in the previous posts is the fact that the lighting inside a store doesn't duplicate natural diffuse light outdoors, so it's harder to distinguish the better optics from the mediocre optics.  The cheap scopes generally have very basic coatings that don't require much process time (and therefore added expense) along with lesser quality optical glass, less complex lens elements that cannot correct optical aberrations, and less precise grinding, polishing, and alignment of lenses.  Under perfect lighting or unidirectional light as in a store, without low angle light to create flare, it is more difficult to see their optical shortcomings as you would in the varying light and environmental conditions outdoors.  Cheap scopes still look decent inside the store because the artificial lighting in the store doesn't create flare or CA problems.  As for the cheap scopes maybe appearing inferior outdoors... well... they do.  That's why they are cheap scopes.  The average person who buys really cheap scopes do so precisely because they are cheap price-wise.  Therefore, they don't generally return it based on poor optics because many, if not most of the cheap scope customers aren't willing to part with the $ for more expensive scopes and aren't very critical of poor image quality because they don't have a basis of comparison.  In addition to more complex lens elements (doublets, triplets), better optical glass, precise lens grinding, polishing and alignment, and carefully tailored and controlled coating types and thicknesses, expensive high end scopes undergo a more time consuming, meticulous multicoating process using coatings that maximize light transmission in the blue spectrum, which is important for good low light performance. 

I think the general point in the previous posts is the fact that the lighting inside a store doesn't duplicate natural diffuse light outdoors, so it's harder to distinguish the better optics from the mediocre optics.  The cheap scopes generally have very basic coatings that don't require much process time (and therefore added expense) along with lesser quality optical glass, less complex lens elements that cannot correct optical aberrations, and less precise grinding, polishing, and alignment of lenses.  Under perfect lighting or unidirectional light as in a store, without low angle light to create flare, it is more difficult to see their optical shortcomings as you would in the varying light and environmental conditions outdoors.  Cheap scopes still look decent inside the store because the artificial lighting in the store doesn't create flare or CA problems.  As for the cheap scopes maybe appearing inferior outdoors... well... they do.  That's why they are cheap scopes.  The average person who buys really cheap scopes do so precisely because they are cheap price-wise.  Therefore, they don't generally return it based on poor optics because many, if not most of the cheap scope customers aren't willing to part with the $ for more expensive scopes and aren't very critical of poor image quality because they don't have a basis of comparison.  In addition to more complex lens elements (doublets, triplets), better optical glass, precise lens grinding, polishing and alignment, and carefully tailored and controlled coating types and thicknesses, expensive high end scopes undergo a more time consuming, meticulous multicoating process using coatings that maximize light transmission in the blue spectrum, which is important for good low light performance.