Well, a good consolidator lens would usually be one that has a wide focal range, something like one that covers between 28mm to say as far as 300mm! Now, in my opinion, no one makes better wide coverage lens like Canon - Canon EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM. But for three grands, its a lens that average folk like me find it hard to swallow. This is all before us needing to get a Canon body!
Sigma's 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Macro attempt was mediocre at $299, with only "so-so" optic quality. Tamron's AF18-270mm/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) Macro was a brave attempt into grabbing this segment but her poor indecisive AF and slow focusing (read it from DP Review) kinda marred the whole show, in addition to soft images at the telephoto end above 100mm. Tokina is out of the race entirely except if you consider 80-400mm a consolidator range.
