Got the Tier 2 treatment with Tier 1 fire control group (I have the same FCG on my FS 9MM) along with a match fit barrel. The wait was longer than expected (about 6 months) due to SAI moving facilities in the middle of working on my gun. I was less than impressed with their responsiveness to my queries about the status of my gun over the last couple of months of the wait.
I'll give my honest impressions below the pics.
Yes, it was expensive. Yes, it also made the gun better. Worth the price? To me yes, but you be the judge for yourself.
The trigger is fantastic as it is on my FS. I love the frame work, as I also do on my FS. The slide work is new to me though, as I didn't have them do it to my full size and wasn't planning on getting it done to this. They just so happened to be having a sale shortly after I sent mine in for the frame work and trigger and I said "oh what the hell."
I also added a match fit barrel, which I believe they source from KKM.
As far as my impressions, as I said I love the trigger and frame cuts/stippling. I also like the slide work as felt recoil is lower and the slide cycles faster. It's a subtle, but I can definitely tell it is there with both 115gr UMC or 147gr +P HST. Both cycled reliably.
As far as things I don't like, the rear sight has two screws, with one of them being directly over the plunger spring cover. This cover is plastic, I believe, and from what I understand Salient secures this screw directly over it with red loctite so that it doesn't actually function as a set screw, while the one on the other side does. Some find this a big deal, I think it's a somewhat stupid design choice but not really detrimental as the screw isn't going anywhere.
Also, the gun groups nicely but is hitting a little high based on the same sight picture as my FS 9mm with 10-8s, which is dead nuts on. I only shot with the match fit barrel so no idea if this is an issue of early unlocking of the barrel or simply the sights not being to my liking. I'm going to compare with the factory barrel later this week and if it is still hitting high I'll swap out the sights with a set of 10-8s. If it hits dead on with the factory barrel I'll be giving Salient a call to get the barrel fitment squared away.