I've had the 05 OR for about two months now. Here's what I really like:

I used the locker the first day I had it. Lots of mud here in NC and it's absolutely worth the $1500 and more on it's own.

The extra clearance. Every inch counts, even for mild offroading. Especially if you don't plan on doing enough to justify getting a lift, then getting and extra inch from the factory is a good idea.

Believe it or not, the "large loop" fabric on the seats. It's much tougher than the standard fabric, and it does a good job of making mud sit on top rather than penetrating the fabric, so clean-up is easier. On that same note, the rubber floor mats are very useful too. Something I would have had to buy anyway.

The skid plates are not really heavy enough for serious off road, as people have said. But for low-key off road they are great. Once again, you get adequate protection even though you can't justify investing in real armor. For me, they will have to be replaced, but thats a ways down in the list (need Shrocks sliders and a bumper first) so I realy like having at least some protection in the mean time.

Unless you go fairly fast off-road you won't notice the difference in shocks. I do and I can say they are a large improvement over the standard shocks, but they do ride rougher on-road.

All in all, the OR gives you one SERIOUS off road tool, the locker, that pays for itself. Then you have several advantages for people looking to do basic off-roading but not wanting to invest in a lot of mods. My .03