Some first impressions:
1. Slide to frame fit is excellent. Smooth and no wiggle whatsoever.
2. The grip is wide, of course, but the shape of the grip helps it to feel thinner. It's bigger in every dimension to my G17 grip, but it feels the same size. Plus the rounded shape feels better, to me. The texture is top notch. Not too aggresive and seems to lock the gun in the hand.
3. The Hex red dot is probably going to go away. Still have to put a battery in it. The one it came with seems to be dead. Had to order some 2023 cells as I couldn't find one around. It's bigger than a Burris FFIII, without having a bigger window. Also it requires it to be removed from the gun to change the batteries. If I had to do it again, I'd probably buy the gun without the sight.
4. Speaking of sights, the irons seem pretty good. The rear is a blacked out u-notch and the front is fiber optic. They are tall sights which gives you the ability to use them thru the dot. One of the gripes I've seen more than once in the reviews I've watched is the fiber optic rod in the front sight falls out. Don't know how easy that is to repair, but the sight is in a dovetail. If it happens, I'll probably put a Trijicon night sight on it.
5. The slide stop is hard to hit, being recessed into the frame. Sure is easy to put it back in during assembly. No idiot scratches here.
6. The gun came pretty dirty. I think it might have been a display gun, which would explain the dead battery in the red dot. Everything cleaned up just fine though.
&. Finally, while watching the youtube video reviews, I noticed that the critical reviews came out 2 years ago when it was first introduced. Almost all the recent ones have been overwhelmingly positive. Even some of the original negative reviewers have said it is much better after 1000 rounds or so.
For those who say you gotta go Staccato at least, this was less than half the price. Is it as good a gun? No. But it cost less than 1/2 the price. Doesn't necessarily make it a bad gun, just not as good as a very expensive one. Like the Ruger mark series vs. a Model 41. Nobody says the Rugers are bad, just maybe not as good. But they cost less than half the price.
Now, to MIM. I have had several guns with MIM parts. Not one has ever broken. Even so, since this is a range toy, not a piece of life saving equipment, I'll risk the chance it may break one of these parts. Replacement parts, being for the most part standard 1911 parts, are easy to replace with quality forged parts. I might change the slide stop, but that would be to get a bigger paddle on it that's easier to manipulate.
I have ordered a holster and some mags for it. All in all, I think I'm really gonna like this pistol. Reviewers of later examples, like mine, report excellent accuracy and say it is an easy gun to shoot well. More than one reviewer called it a "cheat code". I bought 1000 rounds of range ammo for it, so I should be able to get it broken in quickly once I find a place to shoot.
Final thooughts? If you're looking at a 2011 series pistol, do yourself a favor and borrow or rent one of these as well as the Staccatos or similar. You might decide to save some money.