HK used to import the Benellis before (i beleive) Beretta bought them. i have a hk marked m1 and love it. an HK marked gun will be an older model. i have had mine m1 for 14 years and use it only for dove hunting in texas. i shoot between 5 and 8 cases of shells during the corse of 6 weeks for the last 14 yrs. . it is and has been problem free up to now. i do think i am going to buy a new recoil spring and mabye a spare firing pin and spring. you can see i have been a member here since 2005 but i really just got back on the board last week looking for info for the parts.
btw i shoot remington heavy field loads 3.25 drams and 1 1/8 oz shot and the gun cycels and functions perfectly
now to answer your question. i bought a sbe as my back up to this gun in 2002 or so. well i sold that gun. it just didnt feel or shoot like my m1. recently i have been looking for a spare gun to accompany me on my hunts for peace of mind. i would be fubar in central texas with just this gun if anything happend and i live in dallas. so i have been looking at m2's or a used m1. to me if the gun is truely almost new i would pay that price but i would try to get it for 700 or 750. but again that is to me. i have 3 browings(citori, b80 and an a5) a 1100 and various other scatter guns but i own no finer weapon than my m1. with that said i would probabley pay a little premium to have it.
plus you wont pay tax or shipping or an FFL fee if you bought online and had it shipped to you.
good luck and sorry for the long winded reply