ha, fiets and I had exactly the same thoughts, at the same time!
what I can say, when I went to ergo shaped grips after regular ones, it changed my commuter bike comfort. Going to the more expensive Ergo brand ones improved it even more just because of the more researched contoured shape of them (you wont notice this in photos, all grips look the same).
this company is known for their top quality grips, and in life, its often worth spending more on a quality product.
thats my take on outdoor activity stuff. Worth it for comfort and longevity, especially for our body comfort, especially when we arent 20 anymore and dont give a second thought to stuff like that, because we are invincible and get over everything easily ;-)
ps the cork versions are better over time to not get "tacky" as rubber does over time. The Ergo rubber is probably a lot better than cheaper grips, my cheapones clearly got "tacky" after a bunch of years, more annoying without bike gloves on, so this is why the cork ones are nice, they have a nice feel to them, surface wise.