I originally went with the XD due to the grip safety, as I was new to handguns. It gave me that additional bit of comfort when holstering. Placing the thumb on the back of the slide while holstering deactivates the grip safety and won't allow it to fire if trigger gets snagged. When I was looking for a compact 9 i was looking at the xd9c, glock 26, and then i saw the M&P, which feels amazing in the hand. I wanted to give glock a shot but the grip angle just wasn't cutting it for me. Lots of people swear by the 1911, but i haven't been bitten by the bug yet. Can't go wrong with an XD.