[freedom]

Ok so I actually found a store with a c-9 in stock which is an miracle by itself.

COOL 8)

I held it examined it....kinda just went through the normal gun exploration motions. And sadly it wasn't love at first sight.

Bummer

It's also too top heavy which I was expecting weight just not so much on the slider.

They are top heavy, but if you shoot them some you get use to it. And then you don't even notice.

Here in Orlando a reasonable price for it would be 200 and for that price I almost would say its worth a $100/$150 dollar upgrade. However I'm not calling it a piece of junk

No worries. Lots of people call them that, some say they shoot great but look to cheesy. etc. Personally I think HPs are ugly guns but they work great and don't cost an arm and a leg. And the looks kinda grow on you in time.

I just don't know if its right for me.

Thats cool, take your time and if it grows on you later, so be it.

Good news is in all my searches I finally found a place that will let me rent one so I can send some rounds down range and figure out if I really think its worth it.

That is great, that you found a range that will let you rent and that has one to rent. Give them a chance, and if nothing else you get to go have some fun.

My question is does the .40 and .45 share these attributes?

Yes they are all top heave. But the C9 IMHO is the nicest one for a few reasons.
Gun is a good price.
Ammo is cheaper.
You can CCW with the C9, I do.
It makes a good house gun, truck gun, boat anchor, etc.
Thruth is I realy like my HP C9 as do most here.

If so I may just skip the hi-point handgun craze in favor of more ergonomic (for me) hand guns.

Also good. Better to be happy with what you spend your money on.
I personally wish HP would redesign the C9 so that it looked more like the Walther P99 or the Springfield XDdm. And built it so that it would work with say.....................Glock hi capacity magazines. That way you could buy it, and find quality mags for it just about any place.
They could build it with all the same internals of the current C9, just reshape the slide so that it looked more like the P99 or XDdm and re do the polymer frame to accept the Glock magz.
They could even charge more for it and I'm sure people would buy. I know I would.