Hello,
The whole thing is, in the main,we are already tooled up to the hilt, so these are redundant. But,if we had no planes and were buying for the first time, money aside, would we still buy a bog standard Bailey pattern when something like this is available. Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so can't blame anyone for disliking that aspect, but to be honest I don't think Bailey pattern planes are beautiful, we are jut used to how they look. An infill or nice coffin woodie would be nicer, I even prefer the simplicity of Japanese Dia. But based on performance I think these look like they cannot be bettered by what we already have on offer. I like to think that if new Handtools are produced then things cannot be too depressing, in terms of people wanting to use them, and that can only be a good thing!
I actually quite like the aesthetics, though and I'm sure the quality is second to none. Cannot understand the moaning, really.
Mike.