Ironic isn't it, since Thorlabs brought down the cost of optical tooling and made components more accessible - they are the Amazon of optics and remain a cost leader.

Yeah, I don't mean to beat up on Thor Labs. As they point out, they don't even make any extra profit on those kits beyond the components themselves. And then there are the free snacks. :-P

If you are putting together some more advanced educational or experimental apparatus, they are pretty much a no-brainer supplier, as you say. But their level of quality, support, and system integration just isn't necessary for something like this.