The Canon 17-55 is still $1000 from Amazon.
Hnn.. I have until end of February to decide... I will consider this lens as well, although the Tamron is twice cheaper. Is the canon that much better?
Is there much differece between 16 and 17mm? I liked the Tokina for being such a wide lens with 11-16.
if I buy the Tokina 11-16 for $600 and the Tamron 17-55 for $500 that would be $100 more expensive then the Canon 17-55 for $1000. Then I can try to sell my 18-55 and what $100 bucks?
Man, this is hard to decide...
Back when I was looking into this, I considered the Tamron as well, but at least a couple years ago, the Tamron with VC was really bad compared to the Canon, while the non-stabilized version was very sharp. I'm not sure if that's changed. I would read some reviews if I were you.
In terms of ultra-wide... I also owned a 10-22mm lens and although it was fun, I rarely used it. However a couple of mm at the wide end can make a difference. It really comes down to what you want to shoot. The problem with 10-14mm is that you end up with ridiculous amounts of sky and or foreground when using it outside... To the point where you need to almost crop it to the point it looks like a stitched panorama... In which case, you may as well just do a panorama with a normal wide angle in the first place. Where it helps is shooting indoors or in courtyards... Cathedrals, castles, etc. Now I have a 24mm wide angle on my full frame which is equivalent to 15mm on an APS-C and I find it plenty wide.
If you want a really good walk around lens also consider the Canon 15-85 it apparently has great optics, IS, and a very nice focal range. The only problem is it does not have a sexy max aperture.
The good thing is, you have a lot of choices... Look at what you shoot and what's holding you back, or more importantly, what new gear might get you excited and motivated to get out and shoot more. But I think one mistake a lot of people make early on is to think they really need the entire focal range covered from 10-400mm even if they accomplish it initially with very mediocre glass. You're much better off figuring out what focal lengths are most important to you and splurge on better lenses there.