I bough the the 4.25″ Prodigy at the start of the year (2023) and I’ve been running it steadily every since. It’s relatively lightweight — a similar weight to the Springfiend Hi-Power clone — small enough to conceal without much effort, and it is utterly spectacular for accuracy. The complaints about needing a better flared magwell I think are overwrought; I’ve never had an issue with a magazine change. If there’s anything, it’s the plate/ rear sight assembly gets a bit loose after a few hundred rounds and needs tightened. I may just Loc-Tite it. I’m not planning on running an optic.
If I had one gripe — and it’s a small one — I would like to have had a flat strap to the slide. Over the years, I used a lot of pistols with a flat top and it made perspective shooting (using the flat to “run a road” to the target) quick and accurate without needing to use the sights save for more precise shooting. It’s why the Walther PPK suits me so well, why I love my Kimber Camp Guard and can shoot them quickly and with minute of bad guy accuracy while moving.
Reliability at 2000 rounds is this: one failure to go into battery, but that might have been me limp-wristing it while shooting one-handed. Even if it wasn’t, that’s a 0.05% fail rate. That’s completely acceptable for a self-defense handgun. Here’s the wear so far for 2000 rounds: pretty standard wear along the barrel sides and top where it impacts with the muzzle opening on the slide. Minimal wear on the locking lugs on the slide — this is better than most handguns I’ve seen at this round count. Wear on the rails and the top of the lower frame is well within what I would expect. The outer finish is still pristine, ever with holster use.
I know some folks had trouble with the initial run of the Prodigy — especially the 5″ version, but my experience with the commander-length has been just shy of flawless. For $1400 or so, it’s definitely worth it.
