Astute observation.
The bonus being that a guy can then later spend the money on something like a CT laser grip and basically get a low-light capability and better "sights" for distance.
Not sure where the "belly gun" thing comes from except folks who haven't taken the time to be able to shoot these guns well. I'm not the world's greatest shooter, but I have two 642s that I have to qual with twice a year and I clean the KS KLETC C-POST qual with both guns every time.
Doing some of the sight improvements that Claude talks about for pocket guns helps my day light sight picture a lot, CT grips work really well when I shoot these guns in low light or indoors.