To my knowledge the waffen SS varied greatly in quality. The most effective divisions gained greater renown (for obvious reasons) earning the SS its reputation. Also, even the less capable formations were highly devoted to the Nazi cause and loyal to the party, resulting in a more fanatical mindset than the regular army.

They were perhaps feared more because of propaganda reasons and their fanaticism. The Waffen-SS was also equipped vey well, because of the amount of political favour they enjoyed.

For a long time I as well thought the 'proper' German Waffen-SS (as opposed to the many foreign auxiliaries that were under SS command) regiments were a real military elite, but as you compare the large amount of historical sources, combat reports, you name it, a new picture starts to emerge.

One of a bunch of undisciplined, fanatical and near-suicidal combat units. They had good equipment and decent (ish) training, but their dumbass fanaticism made them militarily unreliable.

Waffen-SS units in general suffered more casualties than Heer units achieving the same objective. They were obsessed with fighting to the death instead of retreating effectively. Heer commanders were generally quite unflattering about the performance of their Wafffen-SS colleagues.

The famous Waffen-SS tank ace Michael Wittmann, whilst widely lauded for being an aggressive and highly capable tank commander, was seen as a danger to everyone on the battlefield, including his own side, by Heer commanders who worked with his unit. Whilst a good individual tank commander, Wittmann showed little grasp for unit tactics and concerted movements in the bigger picture, he just kind of balled in there and did his own thing. That makes for a great propaganda movie, but it's a nightmare if you're trying to achieve effective things on a battlefield.

And it's that picture that is eventually painted. Fanatics who could learn a thing or two from the much more coolheaded way the regular German army did things.

So yeah, militarily more competent? Nope. More feared? Perhaps, but not for their combat acumen.

Although I will definitely say, for an opposing unit the prospect of having to combat enemies who will readily fight themselves to death instead of surrender or retreat certainly isn't enticing. That could've helped breed the Waffen-SS reputation amongst Allied soldiers.