re: XD-M 5.25” competition.

If you're not dead set on the XDm, Check out the Canik TP9SFX. Not sure how available it is locally, but several online retailers have had it in stock recently.

I have one and it's quite an amazing gun, for the price. Spent less than $100 on trigger and spring upgrades and this thing is so smooth...

Canik triggers are amazing out the box. Only reason I got a Freedomsmith trigger was to eliminate the pre travel. It also lessened the pull weight to about 3lbs at the break.

It's available in several different colors now. The gray-over-black was the original and now there's all black, all white, an Academy exclusive brown, black over white...

Edit to add: it's 9mm only.

{top one in pic}