I was sold when I read this:
http://mountainbiketales.com/reviews/707.htm
The Woodstock value rating formula is this:
((2000-Total Price)*Quality Rating)/100
Honestly the value ratings don't mean that much to me. I can look at the components and know if I'm getting some good or something mediocre. This is my first off-road bike and I really did not want to spend $1500+ at an LBS nor did I want to spend $400 at Wal-Fart.
I feel comfortable buying from a mom & pop Internet company, mainly because I run a mom & pop Internet business myself. You are likely to get better personal service than you could ever get with a huge company like Trek.
There are also a few other independent reviews out there that are favorable. Here are the only weaknesses I have found, from TheBikeGeek.com:
"Right when I first got the 707, I took it to the LBS to show the guys and to get their opinions. Some of the mechanics took it around the parking lot to test it out. The General Manager of the shop wanted to air down the shock to have it fit his weight. Once he let out all of the air, he compressed the rear end to see if it would get the full travel on the shock. To our surprise, the rocker arm was hitting the top of the shock, which meant you couldn’t get the full travel on the rear end and potentially damaging the shock.
Though this was easily remedied by moving the shock position to the outer mounting bracket. Once that adjustment was made, the rocker arm was no longer hitting the the shock.
Another problem we had during our test was the drive train crank arm. The crank arm bolt came loose during our test. We had to cut our ride short that evening and by the time we got back to the car, the crank arm had vibrated loose.
I had mentioned both problems to Woodstock Bikes. They immediately responded by making sure they notify future customers of the rear shock/rocker arm problem and by adding an 8mm allen wrench with the bike when purchased. Apparently the problem with the TruVativ cranks has been experienced by other bike companies using the same model on their bikes."