I went with the Taurus 856. I disagree that they are just as reliable as the next, but from what I see, most of the time if you get a good one it will stay that way (it is mainly a QC issue, letting things out that should not have been allowed out of the factory). So, I should know within the first couple hundred rounds.
I haven't had a chance to shoot my 856 yet (or my Colt King Cobra), with the move and the end of the school year (I'm a teacher) I haven't had time to do anything for fun lately. I did pick up my 856 from the dealer last week.
Fit and finish isn't as good as my new King Cobra or the S&Ws I've had for a while, but it isn't bad. The trigger is quite good for a small frame snub (Taurus somehow always seems to do small frame triggers better than S&W J-frames). I've been dry firing the heck out of it and I'm already seeing the trigger smooth out a bit more. I thought I'd probably want to swap out the grips right away, but dry firing it, I'm finding they fit my hands about perfectly. They fill my hand well, the little extra piece under the frame gives me a spot for my pinky, yet they don't interfere with concealment when in my pocket. I'm hoping it will make the gun relatively comfortable for a 15oz small frame revolver. I wasn't sure about the color combo I went with, but I'm very happy I went with it (two-tone blue and black). The black barrel and front sight against the blue frame and sight channel contrast quite nicely. With the price, I definitely can see myself also picking up the CH version in burnt orange if it turns out to be reliable. The only negative so far is that the black finish doesn't seem to be very durable: I already have a pronounced cylinder drag line after just a few hours of dry firing