Hi Turko,
It would seem that you and I differ a little bit in that I love to hit the long irons, and I even carried a 1-iron for a while (and not just as insurance against lightning, but I digress) ... and that was fine off the tee or off a nice fairway lie, but hitting a 2-iron out of the rough is not something I'm capable of doing reliably ... so my primary interest in the hybrids was additional flexibility ... I can use them off the tee, on the fairway, out of the rough, even for bump-and-run around the greens.
With that being said, I haven't found a stunning difference in the relative effectiveness of the various hybrids, although perhaps that's because I rarely put the same swing on the ball twice in a row. I started with a Founder's Club 2-iron equivalent that I bought off a guy for $20 just to see if I would like hybrids. Then on a trip to Myrtle Beach I went into the Martin's up on Hwy 17 and hit my knock-off hybrid against several of the big boys (I don't recall them all, but they included Taylor Made, Nike, and Maxfli as well as 2-3 others) on their launch monitor and didn't see a huge difference in flight or spin or distance ... again, that could be my swing and not the clubs. Right now I have a 2-iron equivalent Baffler (purchased without even hitting it, with some money that I had won in the local CC pro shop) that I like a whole bunch, and I'm seriously considering getting the 3-iron version instead (to close up a gap in my distances). If I do it as a replacement, I will try a bunch of brands just because it's fun ... but if I want to keep them both then I will just pick up another Baffler.
So, my point is that I don't think you can go wrong with any of the good brands ... use the Hot List, or go hit several, whatever works for you ... the biggest thing is to get a good gage on the distance because in my experience the hybrids go a bit farther than the irons that they are designed to replace ... but again, that could just be me ...
Good luck, and have fun with it ... and be sure to come back and tell us what you got and how they worked out!
If you're not having fun, lower your standards.