Took me a sec to realize how old this thread is. I still struggle with answering these kind of questions. There simply is no one best solution. I would advise people differently depending on budget, short and long term goals and experience with editing. I used to teach video editing. Most of my students would want to go for the "Pro" version but the lighter version was more than enough to suit their needs. Even the ones who had aspirations of incorporating motion graphics and 3d compositiing,I would demonstrate that the basic actual editing did not differ that much and they would end up in other programs for those other things regardless of which editor they chose. My two cents in case this thread gets dug up again:
If you are planning on a career in Hollywood and want to make yourself marketable in that job area, Avid still rules the roost. There are some longtime diehard users of lightworks and they have some prominent names and films, but it s a small, if distinguished minority. There is a free version of lightworks worth checking out.
For those with less ambitious goals than working in a hollywood production house or want to produce indie films, Avid is still a consideration but Final Cut and Premiere Pro come into play. Not that Sony Vegas is less than these two, but third party support and integration with other programs comes into play. In fact, it's integration with other programs that actually gives a slight bump imo to Premiere vs Final Cut. The one program that almost every visual professional uses to some degree is photoshop. There is literally no major competitor to it. Of course the knock on Premiere now is the whole subscription based model which is another debate. Being able to jump between Premeiere, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Audition makes Adobe suite arguably the most powerful single vendor video production solution available. The reality is few productions, especially large budget ones use just a single vendor but the budget conscious small operation might.
Sony vegas gets brought up a lot and i am a big fan of Vegas. IMO it is the ONLY NLE with great audio editing ability. It is far easier for the beginner to grasp while still being powerful. If you are not doing any compositing(although Vegas can do VERY basic compositing), vegas holds it's own against FCP and Premiere.
There are a few other programs in this category too like Edius (popular among local tv affiliates).
The next tier is the newcomers and the bang for your buck but not popular among professional category. Hitfilm,Magix and Power Director offer feature rich products that are much less then the other products listed. On paper they seem like great value and for some they will be. For some they will feel like "almost but not quite", especially if you are used to working with any of the others. A number of fellow after affects users I know have tried Hitfilm and the reaction is almost unanimous. It's mostly a "This would be great for someone who did not already own After Effects and Particular". My humble opinion is if you never plan to d othis professionally or collaborate with vide oprofessionals, BUT still want professional like tools, these are great options.
Fionally, the Element/lite category. I seriously believe that most people need no more than these programs. When I worked at a tv station that aired locally produced shows, I only ran into one producer who created a project that could not be created with Premiere Elements or Vegas studio. In fact, most could be done wit hMovie Maker except for the titling.