Plasticover are way cheaper and when you get a good one it's great. But being cane, they are just as inconsistent (in my experience).
I have played lots of synthetics (Bari, Bari*, Hahn, Hartmann, Legere, Legere Studio, Legere Signature, Fibracell). Out of that lot, my preferred ones are Legere Signature (still waiting for the alto version to be available from Reeds Direct in UK) and Fibracell.
Don't pay £25 for a Legere, Reeds Direct have them for about £18 with free P&P.
I still think that a good cane reed is better than the best synthetic I have yet experienced, but how many good cane reeds do you get and how long do they last ? So I have settled on Legere Signature 2.5 on tenor and Vandoren Java 3 on alto until the Signature is available. Plasticover 4 on baritone and RJS 3 on soprano.
Also, synthetics seem to work better on some mouthpieces than others - you have to do a lot of experimenting and that's expensive.
Rhys