The Touch Pro 2 is actually quite an upgrade in experience, even though hardware isn't that much better (from a specs point of view). Overall it appears to run faster/smoother than the TP. The stock WM 6.5 ROM it came shipped with was pretty bad. As a matter of fact, on every boot up it would ask to send error details to MS, even if it was just rebooted once before!
After having used the stock ROM for ~ 2 weeks, I went ahead and threw Energy ROM on it. Found here: http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=86489 I was trying to avoid the 6.5 release but ended up liking it. It has what I was looking for, specifically the ability to turn on/off bluetooth from the home screen, have the weather, fast access to contacts (without having to switch screens) and a view of upcoming events from my calendar. Though this is the first ROM for the TP2 I have used, it has been great and has the hallmarks of what a good ROM is and how it performs.
The keyboard still isn't comfortable for me (yet?). I prefer the one on the TouchPro. I actually liked the one on the Mogul, but that's long gone now. The sliding action is really stiff, not as easy to open up as the TP was with one hand. But the screen size more than makes up for that and the tilting option might come in handy some day. Even if the TP2 is a little old, it still keeps up with the HTC Evolution...
The overall experience is good enough to keep me using it as my primary phone and having used the Evo for a bit over a month, I'm not missing the evo too much. Especially now since I'm customizing the TP2 to my liking.
Here's a link to unlock your phone (necessary in order to flash a custom ROM). http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=93252