Hi Kathy,
I will try to speak to the reduced cost aspect of your post.
After 3 years of production, Heartland saw sales on the Landmark model begin become flat. Dealers just could not move them anymore.
Heartland had a choice to make - drop Landmark or change Landmark. The Landmark was the first model Heartland made - their flagship, their luxury model. They build the company on the back of Landmark.
Lucky for us, Heartland decided to keep Landmark. To do so, they needed to make changes in order to spur sales. No sense in producing a trailer that can only move a few units a year - dealers would not order any in that case.
What Heartland did was to redesign Landmark, removing some items, introducing some new items, changing things up a bit, produce them on the Bighorn chassis, take some of their own margin out etc. In the end, you get to buy a Landmark for what you found to be about $10k less than it used to be.
Are there differences? Yes. Will some people miss some of the things that are no longer offered (larger UDC, water manifold system etc.)? Yes. Is it an awesome unit at its price point? Absolutely YES!
Is it better than the other brands/models you mentioned? Not for me to answer as I have not owned or compared the others. Other people here may choose to weigh in on that aspect.
Best of luck to you!
Jim