I bought both the model above and a "factory defect" model from the first run, kept the "defect" and sold the other one mainly because I was happy with the defect's quality and could sell the other one for more than I paid for it. I use it for my daily hiking/bush gun and have probably put 100km on it through grizzly and mosquito infested Yukon bush so far this summer. It is not the most practical gun to shoot, but it is great to carry and beats a pointy stick or sharp rock if you come face to face with a bear emerging from the willows. If I were going somewhere where I was likely to run into a bear, like salmon fishing, or wanted to hunt, I would carry something else, but for "just in case" it's hard to beat its short length and light weight. I've carried all kinds of guns over the years, but this is small yet powerful enough to stop something if you needed to use it in an emergency. I like the O/U single trigger as well for "oh SH!T" situations, and if you have time to think you can use the barrel select to decide if you want your first shot to be slug or buck, for example. So the question of whether it is practical or a gimmick is relative to your needs.