A buddy of mine asked me to help him and his brother out by setting up and running the IDPA Classifier with them.
We did so Sunday afternoon and then, just for giggles, he and I swapped guns and ran it again. He shot CDP with my 1911, which he'd never done. I shot in SSP, which I've never shot before, with his M&P 9mm, which, again, I'd never even held before.
That gun was just plain EASY. First time shooting, with a borrowed gun, holster, ammo, etc., I shot the Classifier in 104 sec. which is only a hair over 5 sec. out of Master.
And that was with noticeable "new gun" mistakes and bobbles, including a head-shot miss worth 5 points.
104 is several seconds faster than I've ever shot the Classifier -- even with the xDM, my old familiar 1911, or any other gun.
So they don't suck! As long as you get one that works, I guess.