Ausf,

I think you've nailed it pretty well. I like HL or Taigen. It depends upon the tank. Keep in mind that I like my airsoft. So, I'll give a nod to Tamiya's solid engineering for the most part (upgrades and fixes still exist for Tamiya, too) and their great detail, but there's no airsoft.

Some of the Taigen tanks are fully upgraded or redesigned HL tanks. The Tiger is a good example of redoing the molds and offering all three variants (early, mid and late) with additional things like 360 turrets, recoiling airsoft (how cool will that be! ), metal suspensions and hulls, etc. The Taigen T-34 and Sherman also fall in that category.

Some of the Taigen tanks are nothing but HL tanks (smoke & sound version) with a slightly better paint job and Taigen's electronics (which are a step up from the RX-18...more durable, 2.4GHz, still proportional drive). They might or might not have metal tracks depending on the model you buy. Examples are their Pershing, Bulldogs, PzIII, PzIV, and Panthers. If you can find them on sale and wanted to stay with Taigen electronics, it's cheaper to get the Taigen for modifying than getting the HL. I looked hard at that option for my PzIV build. I went elsewhere because it was cheaper to buy the tank and electronics separately with the sales I found at the time.

Taigen could step up there game easily on a few of these. They already have the metal hulls and suspensions for the PzIII, StugIII, KV-1, KV-2, Panther, and Jagdpanther. Instead of selling repainted HL tanks (in those models), they should follow the T-34 lead and sell them with the upgraded hulls and suspensions.

I agree with your general description of where they sit in the market. Their top-end tank (upcoming Tiger I mid) at $500 (with radio, receiver, etc) comes in at a price near Tamiya's cheapest offerings (but don't include the radio or receiver). So, I see them in the middle. One real up-side to Taigen over Tamiya and HL is that they actually have a representative on the forums that interacts with the users. HL does not and I haven't seen it with Tamiya. I like what I've seen with Taigen and will stick with them for many things. Though, I'll still look at HL when it's more cost-effective to do so.