Half the price fir double the quality? Wow that's a bold statement!!
I had a play of various vintages on the trade stand at the NEC this year. I was disapointed with:
Quality - they felt to be made out of cheaper materials when compared with epiphone (I don't own an epiphone btw). The wood on the icon tele' felt almost like balsa, very soft and light. The fret inlays on the v100 were all over the place, it looked aweful (I wish I'd taken a picture). I couldn't beleive they would show such crap craftsmanship on a trade stand!
That said, both the tele' and the v100 sounded sweet,really sweet..
I think I'm more comfortable with "you pay for what you get" in this instance.
