I have 3 teles and one Strat. The 3 teles are 2 Squier affinityās and one classic vibe. My strat was made by me out of really top quality parts and cost about the same as the 3 teles put together.
And ā¦. I play the 2 cheap affinityās 95% of the time. I got my 2nd affinity for 50 bucks in terrible condition and completely restored it and itās perfect. Cost me about 200 bucks in total and itās just a great guitar now. The 2 guitars have 2 different sets of pickups. Tonerider Alnico 2 blues in one and a pair of hot Iron Gear Steel Foundries overwound in the one I renovated. 2 completely different sounds from the same guitar platform and both super easy to play. The toneriders are beautiful for clean sounds I love it. The steel foundries are HOT and great for rock and blues.
My classic vibe tele is relegated to my 2nd residence. Itās more expensive but just not as nice to play, even though it has great tone and lovely pickups and looks super cool (olive green with cream double binding)
Why do I prefer the telecaster? For me , it just looks so much cooler than a Strat or any other guitar. But itās much more. I find it incredible that with all the amazing advances in technology the tele, which is such a simple design, is still one of the most popular guitars and has really changed very little since 1951. I canāt think of many other products where a design has been so successful for so long (except the Strat 
). They are easy to build and super easy to modify. I like the simplicity of 2 pickups and a 3 way switch. I wired my hot tele with a 4 way switch and the 4th position absolutely rocks.
The two pickup sets are totally different. Toneriders for clean stuff and so smooth and the Iron Gear for rock/ blues sounds. With the iron gears and the 4th position you donāt need humbuckers.
So what about the Strat? Well I was completely surprised how different a Strat sounds from a tele. My Strat really chimes and is bell like whereas the tele is harder and more brittle. I think you can get a greater range of tones out of the Strat, but for me, the controls are more complicated and I have to work more to get the right tone, but itās great when you find it. I gravitate to the teles over the Strat because they feel nicer and easier to play. However, I still have to make some adjustments to the Strat which might greatly improve playability and may completely change things.
So all in all, both are great but I have a strong preference for the tele mainly for ease of play. If I was a better guitarist, I suspect I would use the Strat more as I would be able to exploit its excellent tonal qualities but for me, as a beginner, itās more complicated.
Also I should add (and this is probably sacrilege) that I never use the tele bridge on its own (even though thatās one of its strengths) and mostly use the middle and neck position and I mostly use the middle position on the Strat, which many people ignore in favour of the neck or positions 2 and 4. The Strat middle position rocks.
Oh and āThe Bossā plays a tele. Thatās good enough for me!!!
I was saying that watching those guys playing inspires to pick some instrumentā¦ same like when someone watch Billy String inspire pick acoustic, watching Gilmore wanna pick Strat etcā¦ I already figured it out, because I was able to build Tele from parts I have at home. 