For a very amateur rider, is Specialized or Trek worth it? After 15 years of being off a bike--and my waist line showing it--I'm about to buy a new bike and get back in shape.

Looking around, Trek and Specialized appear to have good hybrids, which is my desired bike. I have zeroed in on Trek DS 8.x series--leaning to DS 8.4--and on the Specialized side a Crosstrail Elite.

These bikes cost several hundred dollars more than competitor offerings. Are they worth it? Sure they have fancier components and I do like hydraulic brakes.

I can think of two substantive ways they could be worth the extra money:


They are more reliable and will have less long term maintenance costs
They will have a higher resale value


Does anyone have a good opinion on whether either of these things is true?

Thanks.
The quality of the bike is in the sum of the parts.
The heart of the bike is the frame and what carries the brand is more often than not - the frame.
The manufacturer then hangs various components off the frame to complete the build.

(Big brands) It could be argued - the quality of the frame (design and build) &amp; warranty back-up is better. Other factors could be frame material and design.
At the lower end of the market where you are looking for a hardtail frame - it is a fair bit harder for manufacturers to make their product standout from their competitors (such are the complexities of welding 9 pipes as opposed to designing suspension). And its probably where the brand name will have greater weighting in the buying decision. Markups are also lower at this end of the market and manufacturers will use plenty of own-brand / OEM components to keep their margins higher.

Have a look closely at the component spec. as well as the brand. Manufacturers are great at hiding the down spec of a component ie. cassettes or brake calipers being common examples. 

Google for reviews. If you intend to keep the bike for years and not intend to go on the upgrade path - than perhaps you should be looking at the overall package (component level) as well. If you'll upgrade eventually - than the typically better resale value of a bigger brand like Specialized will be a bigger consideration.