Its only confusing if you are tracing the ancestry of the line-ups back a couple of decades, and even then its probably more useful than confusing. To a customer walking in to gun shop looking for a new sporting scope they are pre-sorted into piles of 1,2, 3 or good, better , best like the old Sears mail order cataloges. For those shopping for used scopes or buying from the over "3" selections its best to know what you're doing.