I was shopping Contend/Defy and settle don Fuji. The Giants seemed to offer more value/dollar than the other big names, and I did like the look better too. There was some level of build where the Defy/Contend went up one step in frame quality, and everyone said that spending less was fine but silly, because the leap in frame quality (I want to say Aluxx the superlight amazing Aluxx, but anyone who cares can google) meant that you were getting their best Al frame and if the components were just okay .... you could upgrade in a few years because the frame was that good---hanging 105 or Ultegra on it would actually make sense.

I no longer have specs and details and comparison sheets but none of it was hard to find. So .... if you were to choose the Giant, that would be where the extra cash would be well spent.