Back from a very patient Suzuki dealer after riding the 1050 and 650 back to back, again.
1050 is undeniably more powerful and seems to offer it from much lower down. Once you get past mid-range they both seem similar. It was almost as if the 650 didn't feel much slower, you just had to work it harder to get the power. For 90% of my riding I don't think I'd notice much difference between the two.
That said, for the sake of that other 10%, I still prefer the 1050 so think that's where I'm headed. That extra power is more useful for 2-up as well I think.
There's a really nice 2019 1000XT with 15k miles for just over £6000 which is very tempting.
One thing that I think would be really useful is cruise control. Now the dealer told me it was only the newer DE models which have this but after looking around it seems the 1050XTs do as well? Can someone clear that up for me?