I've owned probably half a dozen shells over the last 20 years, including a Leer, a couple of Ravens, an old Glasstite, a polycarbonate (stay away!) and even an aluminum cheapo on my old Mazda B2000.
The one thing I like about the Leer shells is that IMO their attachment system is superior to any other one I've seen. Most shells use C-Clamps to clamp the rail of the shell onto the bed rail. Effective but the C-Clamps are big and crude and intrude into the usable cargo space. The Leer's use a different system, which you can see in Streakerfreak's pictures: The bed rail has a reinforced hole in it, and a bolt drops through that hole into a small "j-clamp" that clamps to the underside of the bed rail to lock the shell down. Nice thing about it is that it doesn't intrude into the cargo area of the shell. It's also a breeze to remove, which you can do with a single ratchet (as opposed to the C-clams where you have to loosen the bolt with one hand and hold the c-clamp with your other hand to keep it from flopping around.)
Other than the attachment system, I wasn't all that impressed with my Leer, though to be honest I was at least the 3rd owner of that shell and it was still intact, so there's something to be said about that.
As a total, complete cheapskate it is very difficult for me to consider buying a brand new shell (where $1,000 is the base price of a decent fiberglass cab-high - that's before you start adding the goodies like drop-down front windows and side wind-doors) when you can pick up a used shell in great condition on CL for under $500. Toyota Tacomas and Ford Rangers are the most common compact trucks around so finding shells for them is relatively easy. And you'd be amazed at how many people buy a truck with a shell and remove the shell, only to leave it sitting in their yard for months/years, and who are willing to sell it for next to nothing.
But it really just comes down to whether you want to get the exact features you need - in that case you'll have to bite the bullet and pay full price (but be ready for a shock. Off hand I'd imagine a nice shell with the features you want will cost you close to $2k.)
This high-top shell (I think it's a Raven because the design is very similar to a Raven I had years ago) cost me $300 on CL and the only thing wrong with it is that it didn't have any keys.
I simply removed the lock from the door (took me 10 minutes), took it to a local locksmith and they made me two keys for about $15. It has the carpeted liner, too, which is nice because it will allow me to attach blackout curtains with just velcro "hook" tape on the corners.
By the way, it took me about 2 weeks to find this shell on CL last Summer (in Denver.) The only reason it took me that long was because I specifically wanted a high-rise (I had a cab high and didn't like it for camping.) If I'd wanted a cab-high it would have taken me a matter of
days to find one.
