If you wait a year for a Max 2, then you would be beta testing those changes too. Hard to win when models change frequently.
This ^^^^
The tempo of introducing new models has increased. Testing models extensively before release has been shortened to keep up with competition. We aint got no time fo dat. All new models are beta and new owners are the testers as far as the buying public is concerned.
The next question is, why are so many jumping thru hoops to own the latest new version at all? Wasn't their last choice well considered, with research, knowledge, the initial issues solved, etc. I bought a p365 three years after it's introduction, we are finally getting a reasonable number of holsters and accessories on the market to support it. Except the Blackhawk Stache mag carriers, still waiting. There are rarely accessories when new, owners are left to scrounge, and too frequently use incorrect holsters which are a known hazard now as they are often implicated as the real reason "MY GUN WENT OFF ALL BY ITSELF!"
Just sayin - It takes a lot of practice, time, and carry to finally settle on your best setup, then, off to the closet and we start all over again accepting something new we don't have good muscle memory for nor the correct safety accessory, Mr. Holster. MOST of the new owners do ok, because we aren't in gunfights weekly, and the lack of shooting a new gun 10K rounds the first year is common. We never push the edge of the envelope, but by the time 18 - 24 months are passed, we do know the problems on a large scale.
Flipping guns frequently and having a lot in rotation isn't a goal to be an accomplished shooter, it's a drawback. Yet the internet influencers will tell you that is what we should be doing, and for the most part they have been playing that tune on their flute while dancing us merrily down the road to the next seduction of our income and time.
If we approached this as picking a firearm we would use for the next ten years, then we'd actually see a significant improvement by the time we chose the next one that had been on the market for at least two years. Choosing a new one every season - you've read those owners posts - to keep up for whatever reason, isn't a recipe for success. It's the same as buying a new Swiss Dive watch every 6 months, then what do you hear? Dang watch is never running when it's time to rotate one of the 37 I have - automatic ran down, but quartz is stupid.
Who are we letting play us? Look at the current trend - custom grips, new ported slides, RMR cuts, another $200 for the optic, churn that market churn that market. A $499 pistol becomes a $900 custom carry piece only suitable for range use, yet, those are the only ones shown on blogs and pics in forums, Not reliable no snag daily carry that gets the patina of long use and few gunfights. The real guns of America.
Keeping a Brand up front in the face of shooters thru the media isn't cheap, the costs of advertising at the leading edge are included in the price. And having eternally loyal fans posting on the forums defending their choice at all costs is part of it. If there are complete channels streaming on the internet of influencers hawking goods, a few bucks spread around on the forums can accomplish a lot. Denying it isn't done is the real deception and it's done by major brands around the world. It's all part of the show, now.
That money doesn't go into ammo to run 100k thru a first article production prototype to see what last few things need fixed - you get to do that now. Customer Service is already part of the overhead and fixing a new gun with new parts already on hand - think about it. Budgeted and funded from the retail price. There are some economic realities with that - the folks who say that every possible defect should be found and fixed before release aren't totally wrong, until they insist a $500 gun has to be that way. Nope, that gun would cost a lot closer to $900 to find the last one or two little problems that would only crop up after 50% of its life was consumed. Like a Glock model with slide cracking at 40k, not 90k, which is unacceptable in fleet use.
Not many will consider this advice, not many had an older adult male in their household, and the long term experience isn't getting handed down. If anything, youth typically ignores it - until they finally confront the issue themselves. At that point they go thru the cycle of denial etc until they circle back to "I guess the old man was right all along." Of course we were, we survived our mistakes and are still here, just the same as Swine Flu survivors who never got to mask, were required to work every day, regardless, and who now scoff at the current sniffle. Ask me how I know.
I've likely bought my last 9mm, and in ten years there still won't really be a gamechanger, that happend in 1954 with the S&W M39, 1984 with the polymer Glock, and 2014 with the P320 separate FCU. It will likely be sooner than another 30 years, but there is the true timeline of significant game changers in LEO and civilian autos. I'd like to be shooting in 2044, but it won't be the next new gamechanger. I'm not going to beta test it at age 91 I'll be that old boomerfudd who is still carrying an old beat up P365 with rusty 10 round mags and no 1-6 LPVO mounted on it. Dumb ol fart.
And then it will be the younger guys turn a few years later. What comes around goes around.