But to answer your question -- why does the Gun Elite rag on Sigma's? I think the answer is fourfold. First, S&W quality had dropped off compared to other companies, back in the 1980's and into the 1990's, earning a lot of disfavor (this was when quality European guns -- Sig, HK, and Glock -- hit the market with very good designs and high quality products that really took off).
Second, when the Sigma came along in 1994, during those hard times for S&W, the company was getting on the plastic gun band-wagon late, causing some ridicule; and then the Sigma's initial quality was not so hot, with a lot of reported reliability problems (Added: a Google check indicates early Sigmas had problems with the striker, ejection port, trigger, dust cover strength, etc.).
Third, the Sigma was pretty much a blatant copy of the Glock -- raising the question, is that the best you can do, S&W? Glock sued and won a settlement from S&W on copyright infringement. Sigma's reputation plummeted.
Fourth, on top of all of that, S&W (then under a different parent company) became the object of much opprobrium for signing an agreement in 2000 supporting gun-control initiatives of the Clinton administration. There was actually a serious boycott of S&W by many gun rights believers, and S&W sales dropped. When S&W was saved by new owners in 2001 -- who would later resurrect the company by repudiating the agreement with the government and by introducing better products with much higher quality control -- they initially introduced the much-maligned internal lock on S&W revolvers, earning more dislike among serious gun fans on top of everything else.
All of this compounded to give the Sigma a bad rap -- the purists looked down their noses at the Sigma. In the last 10 years, the Sigma soldiered on while S&W improved in all other areas, introduced the superb M&P pistols around 2005, and -- largely unheralded -- also improved the quality of the Sigma.
Fast forward to today, and what do you find? A revitalized S&W, with great relations with its customer base because it makes excellent products and really stands behind them. The boycott is long forgotten, although you can find mention of it on old web postings.
The current Sigma is much improved, and is a good value for the money. The durability and reliability are as good as it gets. The trigger is adequate for self-defense work and can be mastered -- although, out of the box, is not as easy to use as the trigger on the M&P or even the SD. All this ancient baggage is just keeping the demand -- and thus the price -- down to a reasonable level. The Elite's loss, our gain.
