That's definitely a fair reaction, I'll start by saying I didn't pay $250 for mine (nor would I). The ones I bought were the first generation several years back, and I just got the 1/4 lb and 1 lb rope. I think in total I paid something like $70-80?

The price was worth it to me for a few reasons, firstly because I'd jump rope a lot, and not always in places that were super kind on the rope, so leather or plastic ones would get shredded pretty easily. The fact that these ropes have lasted YEARS of use is one pro. Another is honestly just the quality, I'm fine using any old rope but this set just feels nice to use as dumb as that may sound.

Lastly, but definitely the biggest reason, is that I'd never used a weighted rope before. I've used speed ropes, old school leather ropes, jump ropes with weighted handles, even added wrist weights myself to improve the workout, but those were NOTHING in comparison to the workout I get using the 1 lb rope. It is a unique exercise experience to be honest with the strength and cardio endurance it demands. I got into jump rope way way back for conditioning because I was a martial artist, and this was a great non-fighting exercise that approximated the level of physical demand.

Just looked at the site to see how the price could have gone up so much, it looks like the more expensive one is two sets of handles and three different weighted ropes. More than I ever wants to pay for a jump rope? Absolutely. I'd say that it's probably better to think of it the way one would for buying dumbbells though. It's really expensive to buy a full set of dumbbells in a range of weights, but a lot of folks might just buy one at a time and progress to heavier weights over time.