Both the Ruger SR and the Smith Compact (80ish% size of full size) sell for the same price at Hoosier Armory: $330, but I use that for comparison only.
The Smith seems to bring more in used sales, that is why pointer's $225 Ruger has an appeal (since I'm thrifty/cheap).
It is all about your purpose for the gun. If you want to just try a bunch of things, seems like the Ruger is the ticket (though I'm telling you for something completely different try the Ruger Mark x series). If your purpose is to train, then I'd get the M&P (since it mimics what you have, however it does have some differences I understand, such as a safety, etc. Now that I am exploring M&P's again, I wish there was an M&P 22 out there without the safety).
I personally like to keep things as much the same as I can so I don't have to worry about which gun I may be carrying on a given day, in what holster, and muscle memory and training for trigger and any safety mechanisms, etc. I go for depth, and redundancy where possible, with some size changes for specific needs, but keeping other things the same.
It sounds like that is not your path, so in that case get whatever is most interesting. One thing you might consider if you want to shoot a bunch of different guns rather than having to buy them all and try them is putting together some shooting meetups with folks who have guns that interest you, etc.
As slight thread jack, as I haven't really looked into these, but I see that S&W has an M&P 22 that is a compact/10 rounder (assuming Shield size?) and an M&P 22 (12 rounder) that is larger (assuming more in line with the more full sized or Compact 2.0 sized guns?). Is one much more prevalent than the other? I'll have to do some looking around on these. My concern is that neither of these seems to completely mimic the other M&P's for training purposes. For the guys that have the M&P 22's, which one do you have, and do you consider it a good trainer for carrying a centerfire M&P?
Finally, anyone tried one of these?
https://www.umarexusa.com/collections/air-pistols/products/smith-wesson-m-p-40
Seems to have an operational slide, etc
[video=youtube;6CALhWB0b8I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CALhWB0b8I[/video]
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