I'm a Zildjian guy, and I do like New Beats...both modern as well as the 60s and 70s ones. I have all 3 eras of New Beats in the 14" size. I like the new K Lights and the K Cons too. Some of my favorites.
You can't go wrong with New Beats! I play a set of new ones at church and they sound great in the mix, but too bright and heavy when I don't have my earbuds in.
That being said, I play 14" K Cons live most of the time with my blues-rock and Christian rock/Praise & Worship bands. I also have two 15 1/8" K Zildjian Istanbul crashes (fairly heavy and clangy as crashes) that I use as a set of really sweet hats. They cut well enough without being aggressive at all with a slightly bright, yet low-pitched stick and have a fairly light but dark throaty sound when opened...I'm getting goosebumps talking about them. ;) They are a lot of fun to play.
The cymbals that you're listing are very close to my favorite ones :)Especially the 15" Lights are very interesting.But speaking about recording: I tend to use thicker cymbals on recordings then for live situations. I can't exactly put my finger on a single reason, they just feel better in the mix. So for example i'm using New Beats live in one project, but Avedis Rock Hats for recording.
I used to have a set of 14" New Beats that I traded for some Rock Hats that I sold and got a set of 13" K/Z Hats, then got an A Custom Mastersound bottom to mate with the K top. I sold all 3 of those cymbals and got the K Cons last year. I really wanted to check out the 15" K Lights, but Memphis Drum Shop had just sold the last pair. I tried the 14" K Lights, but liked the 14" K Cons better - they had about 9 sets of K Cons that I tried against the K Lights...too much fun - they cut very well, but with just the right blend of bright and dark stick (higher pitch than the 15s) and a louder, yet darker, open sound than my 15s.
All that being said, you guys have pointed out some very fine sets of hats. I still think a heavier set of hats are nice, but my tastes have moved toward lighter hats in the last few years.