It's a cool revolver. Being a .44 SPL fan I bought the first 696 in town and ordered the 296 when I read an article about it. It carries pretty well, for an L-Frame, but at 18 oz. it can be kind of unpleasant to shoot with stout loads. I must admit I really don't like the way it looks. Kind of like a Bodyguard on steroids. If they had made it with the same profile as a J-Frame Centennial I think it would look really good, but I guess that would have been problematic for some reason.
Any .44 Spl. is cool. This one has it's own little niche, and although I rarely carry or shoot it I'm glad I have it. I think someday it will be worth quite a bit as it was only made for a short time. From what I have heard they are going for a pretty high price now, so if you have a chance to buy one you might want to do it. There's not many out there.