I briefly owned a new Strat with the S-1 system and a humbucker in the bridge. Firstly, I am kinda spoilt when it comes to pickups. I've owned some of the best pickups around--very expensive ones--so I wasn't impressed at all with the noiseless pickups that came stock in the Strat. They'd been a major pain to replace as well, if you wanted to keep the switching system. I found the different sounds OK, but nothing to go crazy over. Sure, it's versatile, but the sounds aren't all that different from each other and I didn't actually like many of the newer sounds afforded by the S-1 system. They were no real improvement on what you could get out of a standard 5-way, IMO.

For me the S-1 system more of a gimmick than something I'd really explore. And I'd much prefer a Strat I could put better pickups in more easily. Just IMHO.