REO,
I have Samson's true duals with fish on my '97 heritage springer that's bored and stroked and makes it's fair share of hot pipes. I have a set of the drag fishtails with a Khrome Werks baffle and I also have a set of 3 1/2" X 29" fishtail mufflers. I run the drags most of the time, but if I plan a long ride involving many states I put the muffs on just to avoid the blue lights as much as possible.
I think they look, sound and fit great. But I will say that on my springer the rear pipe does it's turn about pretty close to wife's right leg and on a long hot day she tends to let me know that the pipe is hot. So I let her know she should keep her leg away from the pipe.
I also have read that some riders don't like the weld that is right on top of the fish fin. But on both of mine the weld has held up fine and there is no burrs, but clearly you can see that it has been welded. Far as the sheilds color change, I don't see any such change, but I guess there is a certain amount of personal likes and so on.
good luck
chappy