Plastic - fantasic?

The thing is that cheap plastic Oly 40-150 beats 45-200 in image quality hands down, that is in 40-100mm range.
After 100mm 45-200mm is a bit sharper wide open, but Oly can keep up if stopped down 1/3 stops more or so. At 150mm and F8 both are about equally sharp.

I own both lenses for more than a year, I did tests a year ago, see resolution chart at the bottom of this post, for example http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/39743067

Plastic may feel cheap, but it doesn't break. I mounted heavy TCON-17 tele-converter in front of that long plastic tube on Oly 40-150mm and it survived.

I didn't research current prices but a year ago Oly was always cheaper than Pana and often was on promotions. I originally got Pana 45-200mm as telephoto zoom. But then Oly was on sale for $100 and I couldn't resist buying it.

I would like to sell one of them but I can't. If I go out shooting and I know I won't need the longest reach I will definitely choose Oly. But, 200mm vs 150mm certainly make a difference and I keep 45-200mm only as the longest AF lens I can currently afford. Eventually will replace it with 300mm zoom, 40-150mm will stay.

Added: Another thing, after a year Oly 40-150mm doesn't have that "zoom creep" issue that my 45-200mm has. Although, I don't complain about that, I think it's normal. 45-200mm is smoother when zooming after all.