I went through the same train of thought at first about the barrel. I was actually convinced by my girlfriend that I don't need to suppress it. She's lefty and doesn't like shooting the MP5s suppressed, because of blowback, but is in love with shooting them. So I got talked out of replacing the barrel. The paddle is nice but isn't a huge deal to me, though I admit on my other MP5 that's what I always use. In the end you have a German made MP5 which, until recently, has been very hard to get. I love that HK started making these available. It took me almost three years to find my first German made MP5, guess I might be still suck on the mystique of that factor. I'm on a major SMG kick and think these are awesome.