Presumeably you mean the X-S1?
I have a pair, one of the first and one of the last (incorporating the modified sensor).
Certainly when it came out the quality of its images, its handling, viewfinder and general toughness made it my standard winter walkabout camera.
I only ever had HS-10 and an HS20 in the past and they differ greatly from the X-S1 in weight and were more family friendly.
You can look at the images from various reviewers when it came out to get some idea of what the X-S1 can do. It also conveniently used the same batteries as the X100 which was useful to me.
It is big and heavy for a bridge camera, bigger than say an Olympus E-450 slr body, however the comparison is invalid as there is no lens of comparable range of zoom for 4/3 and should such a beast exist it would be significantly bigger, heavier and expensive than the Fuji. It is definitely chunkier than the HS30 you owned.
I havn't had 'globes', lens droop or any of the other ills that some people felt were endemic in this camera. When it first came out I think I contributed to a thread on birdforum where I stated that it was difficult to see the market that Fuji was aiming at - considering its then price. If they had waited and put the X20 sensor in it, it would have been absolutely superb and sold by the bucketload.
For me it fills a useful niche in my armoury, its good (for this type of camera) images, its EXR capabilities etc., make it a unique photographic tool complementing an old Oly C8080 I use.
Unfortunately I don't use it for birds. I am a photographer who takes images of many things including birds and for that the HS50 (and its equivalents from Canon etc) with its longer reach is the walkabout low cost way to go and an slr/csc with a longer lens is the more expensive way to go for quality and performance. I tend to video birds as I like life in my birds - just a personal thing - and use dedicated video cameras.
In fine weather I tend to use an slr or Oly OMD for stills.
So - at its remaindered price it is good value and I think it is a great camera and I am aware that it has a dedicated band of supporters for good reason. However - if I wanted a go anywhere - relatively lightweight superzoom type camera for birding it is too heavy and doesn't have as good a reach as say the HS-50.
My feeling is that it is often a mistake to be lured by price alone. If I were a dedicated bird photographer I would probably buy a modern superzoom. As I am not, I don't currently own a modern superzoom and the XS-1 makes more sense for my type of photography, its a bit horses for courses. On the other hand you may go on and prove me wrong...