Not significantly different than the Shield to me.
I shot it side by side with my G43 and I prefer the P365 (not sure if the G43 feels like it recoils harsher due to trigger bite/pinch).
My first and only range session with it was 250 rounds. No discomfort at all.
If I had to rank them in...
I just preordered one for $99 shipped lol.
Expensive, but worth it to me. I guess it kind of evens out as I don't have to spend additional money upgrading the trigger and sights like I would for most pistols in its class.
Stell Striker For SIG P365 Pistols
I'm one of the dudes on sigtalk that have a P365 with a broken striker. The P365 does have issues at the moment, however, once they refine the design, it'll be the best cc gun available (at least for me).
If I were you, I'd hold off and browse sig forums once in a while to see when all the...
I always hear about how much better the FSS is over the DCAEK.
Is the only difference the amount of pre-travel removed and where the trigger breaks? Any difference in the break itself?
That's perpetuated by internet myths. There's nothing wrong with using a ported model for self defense. I've shot my G19c in low light and from retention.
Not M&P, but I've seen a few experiments with Glocks w/ porting and they had around 25-30% less muzzle rise.
Here's one:
How Greatly Does A Ported Barrel Reduce Recoi | The Daily Caller
It's hard to say if the improvement is significant enough for you to notice, especially after you consider the wide range of the quality of stock M&P triggers. Even then, we have no way of knowing how perceptive you are of unwanted trigger characteristics.
What I can tell you is...
The polymer...
Does yours have gritty pre-travel? Many report they still experience grittiness from the striker block. The new striker block in the Apex kit usually fixes this.
No one can really tell you what to get. If your only complaint is the actual trigger, you might as well just replace that with the...