Who makes the cheapo zooms?

I picked up one of the cheapo Scopetronix/GTO/Apogee 7.4-21mm zoom eyepieces (all look like the same manufacturer) just to play with it. Its performance has been nothing less than astounding for the $40 used price. Great coatings, nice eye relief, contrasty and sharper & brighter than my Vixen LVs on Jupiter and Saturn.

Does anyone know who makes these little gems or what they actually are? The almost seem like a spotting scope zoom eyepieces with a 1.25" barrel screwed on. And, why are they so inexpensive yet good? Just curious.

I have heard rumor that they were cheaper zooms for Nikon spotting scopes. Not sure if they are outsourced or not, but if you see pictures of the Nikon 7-22 zooms, they sure have an uncanny resemblence.