I bought a 1402 vlz3 for an editing computer at my job and I quite like it... But I never liked Mackie's for their short faders and the layout of the knobs, especially live that is a downside. But indeed, soundwise they are fine for live, only some of them don't have enough headroom (except for the older ones with the gain pots on the back, can't really remember).
I still use an almost 10 years old Soundcraft Spirit Folio F1 which I love. It's thin enough to fit on the bottom of my suitcase (I pack my 707, 727, Nord Rack, DX100 and cables and stuff on top of it) and it's build well; after all these years of abuse it looks like shit but it's still working 100%. When I bought it the tiny psu input was looking like something that would break easily and it still looks like that, but again: after 10 years it's still fine so I guess it's build better then it looks. Soundwise it's simply honest, the EQ is pretty good, there's enough headroom and the layout and options are spartan but clear. In the studio I always thought it was a boring mixer, but live it's working fine. Biggest downside is the routing of the outputs, there's no control room out so when a stage guy wants to connect the monitor directly to the F1 you loose your pfl's, and the main outs are XLR only.
The F1 is really such a good mixer that I wouldn't doubt buying one 2nd hand if I had to, or put my money in a new Soundcraft Spirit. But the new ones I don't really know, I never ever see them so I can only judge them from my experience with the brand.
And how about those new A&H Zed's?