SW probably saw the posts from half the guys on this forum (like me). Who have cerakoted their sd9ve's and decided to make some more sales. I never liked the bi tone of the original SD9VE (it looked 1990's cheap).
My coyote tan and graphite black slides look a lot better on my SD9VE's.
It is weird how it says SD9 - like the originals did.
Not a fan of the fiber optic sites though
I'm guessing this "new" pistol cannot be called a "SD9VE" because "VE" stood for Value Edition. The "value" (e.g., the reduction in manufacturing costs of the SD9VE over the SD9) came from the downgraded sights on the SD9VE (e.g., on the front, the plain white dot compared to a tritium of the SD9, and in the rear, a plastic sight compared to a M&P metal sight on the SD9). S&W could have called this a SD9-2, or something like that, but apparently they defaulted back to SD9. (You can see I am starting to believe this is a new pistol, although I have no idea if it is to be sold
in addition to the SD9VE, or if it supplants the SD9VE).
I'm okay with fiber optics, and put a HiViz LITEWAVE™ on the front of my SD9VE, just like the one on the front of this "new" SD9. However, in general I don't use them because I worry about them being robust enough for the self-defense role. But many people like them, and they do aid visibility of the sights.
I'm intrigued by this new member of the SD family. I'd like to read more about the Armornite® finish. (I found mention of Armornite® being used on S&W M&P-15's and M&P9c's with green Crimson Trace lasers). And I too really like the all-black SD, and may have to get one of these when they hit the major vendors (Bud's, Palmetto State Armory, etc).
