Go with #2. As you can see on Nate's sig they have a nice smooth look to them. I had the old school APC euros on mine and they looked horrible. (They were free from a guy getting rid of his Protege.) The carbon fiber or black chrome only work on the Black and the Titanium. Now I have the all red (#2) and they look great. Far better than stock IMO. It's a much smoother look. As for quality, neither of the APC's I have owned or any of my friends have let water leak in or steamed up.