Well, had I known when I dropped $550 on one that I'd need to spend another $400 to truly make it awesome, I might have gone with something else. There were reasons I took it to the gunsmith beyond just getting it tricked out - primarily, on my model (XDm 9mm 3.8" barrel) the sights were off, which is apparently a common problem. It consistently shot high. Also, it takes a 19 round mag, which makes for an extra-long grip. This would make it a very poor choice for a conceal carry gun, and is the main reason I bought a new pistol for that purpose. There is also a small, cheaply-made pin in the slide that had cracked and eventually would have completely broken and caused the weapon to fail. The gunsmith saw it when he fully disassembled it and replaced it with a much higher quality pin. But I would not have known to look for it, nor did it appear broken. I don't know if this is a common problem or not, but it pissed me off.
That said, it never failed to fire, and even though the sights were off, it shot consistently. It is a blast to shoot, and if you've never fired a gun with a competition trigger, you won't be aware of trigger lag.
So I would recommend it, but I would recommend that you go with a different model - either go big (5.25" barrel, which comes with better sights), or the compact model which has a smaller grip for CC (but will accommodate extended mags if you wish to use them).
This is the model I have:
This is the larger one with the 5.25" barrel:
And this is the compact:
