My dad always had a lot of Speer yellow on the bench when I was a kid. He used them on a bunch of stuff in a bunch of different guns, and I've inherited some of his stash. Speer and RCBS seemed like they were joined at the hip back then. And Speer seems to be stuck in 1980.
I thought JB summed the Speer situation up nicely. Speers aren't just the vanilla of bullets; they are the cheap, artificially-flavored vanilla. At least in rifle bullets. I do like their BTSP for hunting though. They are rather soft, but they work well for the broadside ribs shots I take. I pick the heavier-for-caliber versions; they go through and make a big hole. I'd not trust them for anything other than mostly broadside ribs shots though.
There's just no reason to use Speers other over designs, unless you have a specific caliber/cartridge combo where they work well, and don't want to bother finding a replacement. Their shoddy marketing/distribution practices, in particular their discarding of the handloading market, have sullied them for me and many with whom I've interacted.
