Spats, I'm glad to hear that is your opinion - you are confirming I made a reasonable choice! Honestly, only the slide bothers me and I'm hesitant to carry Condition #1 without a side manual safety only because I don't have enough experience with the gun. I have been really practicing keeping my finger on the side of the gun rather than the trigger when I grab it - and it feels very natural now. I don't want to be one of those negative gun statistics and am making sure the tool(s) I use are simply as close to ideal as I can get.
Maybe I will end up just using the XD9 for both and getting something extravagant like the STI Trojan for my birthday in seven months
