I mean, you coulda just said that. I think that’s the kind of insight he was after.
I shot a box through an XDe 9mm. No reliability issues. Though I can’t say it felt or shot particularly great for me. As a DA/SA fan, I was excited when they announced it (P239 was/still is my go-to single stack). But the ergos just didn’t suit me. Didn’t like the 9mm XDS either—just shot terribly for me.
But I did shoot a .45 XDS... and for whatever reason, it was a tack driver in my hands (which, admittedly, were in pain after a few mags—but the thing was accurate). I thought about trying a .45 XDe based on my experience with the XDs. The many merits of 9mm notwithstanding... I’ll take .45 every time, if the bullet goes where the F I want it to.
And I never had any reliability issues in the limited experience I had with XD single stacks. The Croatian military (and others) use XDs (HS2000).