@jerrell I’ve definitely heard of them, as I’ve spent many moments looking at camera gear… I think I was looking into that same lens for a while believe it or not! I’ve never used them though. Bryan over at the-digital-picture.com has reviewed a couple of the older iterations of them (https://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Tokina-11-16mm-f-2.8-AT-X-Pro-DX-II-Lens.aspx). I usually read his reviews extensively when I’m looking at putting down some money on some new gear.
One thing you could try would be to rent or borrow the gear you’re thinking of purchasing (just make sure to block out a time to shoot with it!). @jamesstaddon once let me borrow his 70-200 f/2.8 at a conference eight years ago. I was blown away by the quality boost and I didn’t hesitate to spend the money to rent it when I was asked to shoot a friend’s wedding several years later. I’ve borrowed other friend’s lenses before and made markedly different decisions (I have one friend with a Tamron 17-50… I tried it… and the autofocus is way too slow for what I need it for). I’ve had excellent experiences with lensrentals.com. Might be worth looking into.
https://www.lensrentals.com/rent/tokina-atx-i-11-16mm-f2.8-cf-lens-for-nikon-f