To be honest Mark I don't really care what the bigger manufacturers think of what we're doing. I know the way they make their pickups and know the sounds - I don't like it so I make BKPs for people with hands AND ears :D
I've heard rumblings from all the major guys but if they've got that much time on their hands they should be playing guitar-me, I'm making pickups and when I'm not doing that I'm playing guitar. That's what it's about for me.
I have tried alot of the 'true' pickup guys work and alot of them are very good. I'm very taken with Tom Holmes work, they sound great. Jim Rolph makes a mean pickup too. Never got on with Fralins or WCR for some reason but alot of players like them and they're made very well.
As for the big guys, well I don't rate anything that is mass produced when put up against a handwound pickup, not just my own. I do think EMGs work well and are extremely consistent-hell you could fit one on a baseball bat, string it up and it'd sound the same. If that's what you want then great because it'll do the job although, again, not a patch on a handwound pickup if it's dynamics and tone you're after.
At the end of the day we're all different and hear things differently too. For me that's the appeal of a handwound pickup-within their individual spec they'll all have a character of their own............identity. It's what we all want isn't it?
