Mavic has really done a good job of building a reliable light all around wheel, however, you can do the same thing for much much less.
First off the wheels are very aerodynamic, but Mavic’s own admission, not much attention was paid to making the wheel aero, other than the “look”. The 18/20 spoke pattern lends some wind shearing benefits until you factor in the cross section of their huge spokes. The rim shape is also quite blunt. They are pretty light, but weight isn’t much of a factor outside of the mountains.
I’ve recently been turned onto Ritchey’s DS wheels which have an aero shape, 16/20 spoke configuration with symetric crossing pattern on the rear wheel. They are very reasonably priced and extremely durable for their 1600ish gram weight.
If you know a competant wheel builder, you can likely get a 1400 gram wheelset built up for around 500 bucks also with American Classic’s hubs and some low-spoke aero shape Sun rims.
SuperDave