I work and train with firearms on a professional level and this is how I make my living so my comments are biased from this perspective. The XD series has been around since the Croatians introduced it in the 1990s as the HS2000 series. I remember my first experience with one in 1994 or so. Unfortunately their introduction was less than stellar and the gun failed to take hold in the US because of poor marketing.
Springfield, in a stroke of genius, saw its potential and made an exclusive deal with the manufacturer. They re-branded it and "sex'd it up" with some new packaging and a new name and the rest is history. They in recent years introduced the XDM series which is a nice enhancement.
Have I shot one? Ah, yea, many actually and with tens of thousands of rounds and I've seen literally millions of rounds go down range in training with these and other pistols.
I'm not exactly sure what you intend to do with this pistol. Your state enjoys conceal carry so if that is your gig, then the XDM series is a winner. They are extremely reliable, they seem to fit people's hands and they have what it takes to be a good choice for conceal carry, plinking or a woods gun.
I'd generally steer people toward the fuller size guns for personal defense and they generally are more reliable. When carrying concealed the .7 shorter barrel usually doesn't make any difference in concealment. It is usually the butt that gives people issues for concealment and is the most difficult to prevent from printing. There generally is no great advantage in having the shorter barrel really. It reduces your sight picture, it requires a some what stronger spring, and the ride is a little rougher. And the shorter barrel really doesn't offer you any great concealment advantage...we're talking just over a 1/2"....whoopie!
It is essentially a knock off of the GLOCK and a darn good one. When I say "knock-off" I'm not meaning a cheap imitation...but imitation is a form of flattery and the Croatians have done a very good job actually. This pistol is on my short list of recommendations to people for personal defense because of its reliability and its ability to fit a wide variety of hands.
GLOCK has been around longer, has around 70% of the LEO market share and is much easier to repair in the field because they allow any GSSF member access to their excellent armorer's course. GLOCK parts are extremely abundant and inexpensive. So for a SHTF pistol the GLOCK is a better choice (again, don't know what you intend to do with this handgun so I'm covering all bases here) because you can easily fix it yourself - cheaply.
