I've always had a love-hate relationship with the HP. Love the feel of the grip I my hand. Its just wonderfully well fitting (for me). Its the rest of the features I hate, or at worst am ..meh.. about.
Sights? The commercial one I had with adjustable sights was decent. Military style sights are ...poor.
Safety? while it is positive, it was always a bit of a concern for me, the lever is small, and shaped in a way that isn't as positive a "thumb stop" as the 1911 safety. This applies to the original ones, the later guns with the larger levers look better, but I haven't tried any of them.
Trigger pull? Sucks. Three men and a boy needed to pull it. This is (mostly) due to the mag disconnect, and the design does not lend itself to the same degree of ease getting a fine pull that the 1911 does.
Mag disconnect? Worst feature of the gun, IMHO. And NOT just because it blocks firing with the mag out. Because it makes the trigger pull worse than it needs to be, and because it (usually) keeps empty mags from dropping free. And then there is the more minor irritation of not being able to drop the hammer without the mag in place when working with the empty gun. (Unless you have fingers as long as I do, AND the ability to press HARD in just the right spot, Many people don't).
Other factors have always worked against the HP when it came to being a popular pistol on the US market. First, the price. Leaving out the milsurp guns, it has always been expensive.
What gun with the Browning name on it hasn't been among the most, if not
the most expensive in its class at retail?? Until recently (Buckmark??) Brownings have always been more expensive than their competition.
Another factor that worked against the HP is its size. Today we hear so much whining about how its "too big", but back in the day, the problem was that it wasn't "big enough"! Not big enough to do anything BUT a 9mm. And the 9mm back in those days simply wasn't the same thing it can be/is today.
The 1911 has "room" to work in, tinker, try different things to see what is, and isn't better or even workable. The HP never did. That, and the fact that it was an expensive base gun to tinker with (again, leaving out the milsurps), meant that very few customizers worked on it.
I too, mourn the passing of an iconic pistol, from current production. Welcome to the world of Luger owners!