Is that just a 686 with a fancy grip? I looked at Smith's website, and aside from it being a 7-shot and the fancy "Talo" grip, I didn't see anything that would make it "Deluxe".
I have one that does not have an unfluted cylinder. The older Deluxe meant something, but these just mean it has a fancy {nice too} grip. The gun does shoot very well though and has a very nice crisp light trigger pull.
I agree its nothing different than your standard model and I just picked one up, I love it and Im sure I paid a bit more for the (Deluxe) but I do love the wooden grips. Great shooting gun, love the power.