mail with surcoat or heraldic mail with surcoat is a lot better than the heraldic mail with tabard...I'll give up 2 body armor for 6 more feet armor, not to mention you have 18 foot armor for your chest piece which is almost as high as you can get (and you're only paying 6k for the item).
I don't think heraldic transitional is worth the price (19k) for getting 15 more body armor than if I was to use a mail with surcoat. You're paying 1k gold for every 1 body armor more than the mail with surcoat.
But at the end of the day, that's all personal preference and choice. It's up to the seller to decide what they want to price their item at, and it's up to the buyer to decide if that cost justifies what they get in return. This thread is all common sense answers and should just be deleted.