I bought a 9mtr and 13mtr and love them, but do agree the depower is a bit far away, I find it is ok with my seat harness but with my waist its a bit of a stretch. Apparently the depower mod is just a shorter rope between the chickenloop and depower cleat (you loose a little depower), I may look into it but don't really find it a problem. If you are into unhooked powered freestyle (I'm not quite there yet but working on it) it maybe a hassle if you are constantly depowering to unhook.
The kite has very consistent, smooth power delivery, good "fifth line like" safety and effortless relaunch so it gives you the confidence to go for new tricks. If you find that the bar pressure is a bit heavy you may be just oversheeting a bit much, it seems to like to fly off the front lines so pull the depower a bit more or move the front line down a knot or two to shorten it.
P.S. The 9mtr is even more fun and has a great wind range.