To get the Hanna checkers for cheaper I usually just wait until BRS sends out the $10 promo codes that they do fairly frequently and use that to get the checker. The checker plus the cheapest item I can find gets me free shipping. So I effectively get the Hanna checker for about $40 which is only about $20 more than the cheapest test kits.Interesting. I found one of my LFS has better prices on Hanna Checkers than either Amazon or EBay (once you consider shipping cost, their price is even better)
I'm surprised you found them cheaper than $50 at a lfs (I'm just guessing they were less than $50), I thought Hanna set a $50 MAP price.