Great post
I like D'Addarios and Elites a lot,which are cheap in comparison. I tried DRs based on not only the colour, but the fact that they are coated and supposedly last longer, which would make them worth the money. I found they actually died faster than any other strings I've ever used!
The only coated strings I have tried that have actually performed as the manufacturer claims are Elixirs. I beat my strings to death and they lasted just over a year with very gradual degradation of tone. I only really noticed a change just before I changed them, which I only did because I broke one!
I'm currently trying out Warwick EMPs, which sounded incredibly aggressive for the first few gigs, but again have lost their brightness fairly quickly. I don't know how I manage to kill these "super strings" so fast!