Yes I admit I did not "get" the DAO thing until I bought one. The thinner snag-free slide is a huge plus. The simplicity of no thumb safety is nice. And the trigger action on these is sweet. So SmithNut's 5 points in the above post are right on for me. I've been searching for a single stack DAO for a while. Apparently they hold a price premium over double stack versions. Nice photos too, by the way.