You asked about a few things:

• Image Quality

• Reach

• Price

Firstly the IQ improvement is huge between L and non-L. However what does image quality mean to you? To some, it means getting paid or NOT getting paid. For hobbyist, it usually does one thing :

• give you some satisfaction when you zoom in at 100% on a computer screen.

Reach

200mm is not a much longer than 135mm. If you can, go try it yourself, you will STILL think 200mm is not long enough. As you take more photos, you start to realize you can create good photos at all focal lengths, unless when shooting specific subjects (like tiny birds).

Price

Again, for people who needs to protect their reputation as professional photography whose living depends on image quality (and many other things), getting an L lens is a no brainer, you don't want to go out of business just to save $2,000.

For own-use, however, the image quality is not so important. We are talking about THOUSANDS of dollars for better PIXELS, not better PHOTOS.

For a balance between the three, I recommend the 55-250mm lens, it is cheap, light, has 250mm(400mm equiv.)

You can have a photo that is sharp and crap, and have another one that is taken with a kit lens that touches your own or other people's hearts.