"Are they true tri bikes or are they poor attempts at triathlon bikes?"

Very poor attempts.

The Trek bikes are evidence that Trek did not do their homework on tri geeks.

Felt and Cervelo make superior tri bikes compared to Trek, period.

If you go over a page or two on the forum, you'll find a discussion of these bikes. I think it's called "Trek Equinox" and it should probably be on the second page as it's a pretty recent thread. But the general consensus, as you've already seen, is these bikes are pretty bad. And overpriced.