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But it is a great lens. My copy (and others' too - Tamron seems to have gotten a handle on QC lately) is close enough in sharpness to the phenomenal Canon 24-70 II that it'd be a toss-up between the Canon's slight edge there and the Tamron's stabilization if the two lenses were the same price. So there's little competition when the Tamron is half the price. The VC works well, if not quite up to the standards of current generation Canon IS. Vignetting wide-open is a potential weakness, but mostly at 2.8 and 24mm, which isn't too common unless you're shooting a lot of documentary or street photography.
With that being said though, I still wouldn't buy it from massdrop at this price. The gray market status is of major concern as there's no US warranty but even if that doesn't bother some people, they can find the gray market lens for about $150 or so less just by taking a little time to shop around and they can get the US version at around this price.
It is nice to see them offering the high end Sigma and Tamron lenses now it's just a shame that they're the gray market versions.
I have a pro photographer friend on the East Coast who uses the D800. I have the D810, which is the camera used in t he DXOmark test of the Tamron 24-80 (exact same lens on MD). My east coast friend has the Nikon lens, and she swears by it. I've seen some of her work that I KNOW she used that lens on, and if the Tamron is as good as DXOmark says it is, well ... the telling will be in the resulting pictures.
Well shall see. Thanks to all who contributed to this discussion! It is greatly appreciated.
Cheers.