I bought the APX AI Carry about 2 weeks ago. It was $219 after the rebate. Mine is all black, there was an FDE one cheaper, for some reason. I'm not an FDE fan at all, so $10 less isn't enough to even tempt me a little bit. It comes in a plain cardboard box, nothing fancy, with a 6 round and an 8 round mag. The mag followers are metal, which I like, as I have had several older used guns with followers that had to be replaced due to them falling apart (S&W, Tanfoglio). The polymer frame seems very well made, there are zero seams in it, except for a almost invisible one under the muzzle. There are no tool marks anywhere, the machine work is very well done. I already had a Holosun 407K red dot, so I ordered the adaptor plate from Beretta and it came in 3 days. The optic installed without any problems and a friend and I went to shoot it in his back yard. I took my Sar CM9 G2 along, as it has a red laser on it and we kind of wanted to do a battle of the cheap guns. He brought out his Sar B6, and his PSA Dagger. with a green laser on it. All these guns were about or under $250 when we bought them. The CM9 G2 is a lot more now, as is the B6.
I will admit a couple of things before going any further, I greatly prefer hammer fired guns over strikers, and I really dislike what I consider over the top texturing, and the APX has that. The front and rear of the grip and the magazines have (IMHO) pretty unpleasant to hold grip texturing on it. This pic of a gray APX A1 Carry shows the texturing. Neither one of us liked it at all. The only gun I've owned with worse feeling texturing was my FN FNS 40. The main reason I sold it was I was getting out of .40, but I really hated that grip. I don't like wearing gloves when I shoot, and even less in "normal life".
Note to gun companies, maybe think grooves instead of cheese graters next time? My old S&W 686 had those awful "Cheeze Grater" grips on it, and they soon were changed out.
We shot about 250 rounds through the APX, it never missed a beat. It shot everything we put into it. 115 gr WWB, 124 gr JHP and FMJ S&B, and 147 grain FMJ loads, I don't remember who made them, but they were pretty hot. The red dot was dead on without any adjustment at 50 feet, the furthest actual target range he has. We both did hit a steel hog target at about 90 feet without any effort. It's a pretty soft shooter for it's size, and it feels heavier than it really is, but it's not nearly as light as say a Taurus PT111 G2 or similar, empty. The Dagger was/is a decent Glock clone, and we both greatly preferred the grip to that of a "real" Glock, which neither of us owns. The B6 has an odd projection on both sides that neither one of us liked, but the CM9, even though it's pretty much the same gun mecanically as the B6, is a whole different thing. We both loved the grip, and the CM9 is my favorite of my polymer guns, and one of my favorites of all my handguns. A metal framed CM9, with the same texture would be great, except that would cost the same as the SAR 2000, a very nice CZ clone, but not a budget gun anymore. A clone of a Tanfoglio CZ clone is always good in my book.
My project this week will be to decapitate the texturing on the APX. I have some sanding sticks and will tape up the grip and mags so only the areas I want to smooth out will be affected. A few strokes will be all it needs. With the grip fixed, it will probably be what I carry, for now.