Are Flying Vs as bad as I think they are?

Well, Im saving up for either a flying v or an american HSS strat(Maybe a highway one strat)or a faded les paul. Before I was leaning towards the flying v, but when i played it at guitar center, it sounded soo muddy and terrible, but the strat sounded great and the les paul sounded great also( i based the sounds off the sound of my AMAZING gibson sg). I always wanted a v and I heard they are great for shows, but was this just a bad guitar, or is the v just a gimmick like my dad says