well i decided to pull the trigger on the move, i just traded no less than 7 lenses, 1 tamron, 5 canon usm lenses, all of which have been replaced over the years with L primes, and my 300mm f4 L , the non IS model, which i haven't taken 20 photos with in the last year, all sent off to keh as trade on a canon 70-200 f2.8 IS mark2, hoping to have it for pixelmania, now i just need to start back pumping the iron, build up those shoulder muscles for carrying it around.
the reviews floating around about this lens are all positive, including stellar reviews when using the 1.4 tc, which gives 280mm f4, with modern IS, close enough to replace that 300.