I don't think prices have dropped that much but just maybe he got a good deal! You can check Total-fta for differences between clones and genuine viewsats.
Ultra for sure. more memory (longer 7 day EPG compared to Extreme 24 hours), easy update through USB port. i made a mistake several months ago and bought myself xtreme instead of Ultra. The STB i really love and is the cheapest is CW600 Premium. it has so many options and better speed and better EPG than my Coolsat6000 and VS Extreme. It also has logos for the channels, which is really cool. you can get 2 CW600 Premiums for the price of 1 VS ultra.