alternatives for 17-85 range and price

Hi all, my father has a 20D with his old 28-80 EF lens, and he likes the 17-85 I am using on my 50D, so he wants me to go on the lookout for one for him.
But that got me thinking, I'm not overly impressed with mine (distortion is pretty crook) but to be honest, he only uses his once every blue moon so prob wouldn't find it bad. I have used his old dusty 28-80 and it's 'orrible! The autofocus is starting to play up too, so he'll prob just bin it when he upgrades.

I have a few options I can do.

1: Sell him mine cheap and find something I could use in it's place, hopefully something nicer in a similar range that won't cost me an arm and a leg to upgrade to. I'm not fussed on brands, but I don't want to end up with something worse if I sell him mine. What are some good alternatives to the 17-85 IS USM lens.? I like IS, but to be honest can live without it.

2: Find him a copy of my lens on Ebay and be done with it.

3: Find him something alternate that will keep him happy and keep what I have.

Cheers
Paul


P.S He has an old Canon FD mount 500 F8 reflex and tokina 17 3.5 prime lens from his old days. Are they worth anything? I understand the issues with converting them to EF mounts due to the lack of infinity focus unless you spend $ on converters, so I was just curious what to do with them.

I'm thinking Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM (Samples) or Sigma 17-70 f/2.8-4 DC Macro HSM OS (Samples)?

They seem to cover about the same range as the 17-85.

The 15-85 is getting pretty pricey up there. I would opt saving up for the 17-55 instead. 17-85s go for like 300-380 these days.

The 15-85 which came as part of my 7D kit is a very nice lens, I'm pleased with mine, useful range and pretty decent IQ

What about the current kitlenses 18-55IS and/or 55-250IS?
Inexpensive and acceptable for the occasional user.
The 15-85 is superior, but at its cost.

I can pick him up a new 18-55 for less than 200 bucks aussie, so that is an option. I'm sure it would be good enough for him, but he only has a 100-300 to go with it so he might miss the gap between them. The brother in law has one on his 500D, and whilst it's not stellar, it does him ok.

If I was going to get the newer 15-85, I'd keep that and sell him my 17-85 but I can't see the value in that lens over what I have really. Is it that much better than the 17-85? For about 200 hundred more you can get a 24-105L, which I would love, but I don't want to spend that sort of money at the moment.

I think I'll watch Ebay and the second hand market for a while and see what pops up cheap and make a last minute decision.

Thanks for the suggestions everybody. The sigma 17-70 could be a go. I like the wider aperture it offers, and it's priced nicely. I could pass on my 17-85 to him. I just get a little worried about the "sigma lottery" I hear about every now and again.

For the price you can pick up a used 17-85is for, they are not a bad deal. The lens is certainly not perfect, but if you're not into picking the fly poop out of the pepper at 100 paces, they are quite serviceable. The canon AF and IS help to separate it from other lenses that are not stellar optically.

I have seen them as low priced down in the mid-$200 range lately which I think makes them a pretty good deal as opposed to when they were up closer to $450. As long as your budget is what it is, I'd at least keep it on your list.

Regards,
Jeff