Pulse vs Melco vs i2

Looking for opinions here as their reps do nothing besides hype their own product, and I feel I am getting nowhere with them. All of these same questions were asked to the sales reps, with hopes of an answer. Their answers will be posted here when received for others with questions.

Almost all of my experience in the field has been wrapped around Melco embroidery software, most recent version being DesignShop Pro+ 3. I am looking for software that works fluidly with vector files and TTFs. I did a lot of the digitizing at my past job, roughly 70% and would like to continue that so I am looking for the most "capable" program, not just the "easiest" program.

From what I can tell, DesignShop 10 uses the same interface just with more functions. This is the video I was watching.

I also checked out Pulse as I was initially interested in their i2 plugin for Adobe Illustrator. After watching this video, it seemed a bit limited in comparison to DesignShop and the other Pulse software.

When it came down to the pulse software, I am looking at Illustrator Extreme, Artist Plus and Maestro. This video is off their site, and gives a good general idea of how it operates to me. This video is specifically for the Illustrator Extreme version. Essentially they are just different levels of the same software.

Here are the main questions I have -

Which is better/easier for digitizing? What did you find better/easier?

Which works more fluidly with AI vector files? Can either edit and export back to AI?

Is it true that there are not as many functions/tools in the i2 Plugin as say in the Illustrator Extreme or Artist Plus versions of Pulse software? Are non of the additional options available that are shown for the other programs such as Font Creator?

For the various versions of Pulse:

In which software are the Complex Modifier and Creating Monogram functions available? In the creation of monograms, is it also possible to create the monogram frames?

It seems the Font Creator creates keyboard embroidery fonts? How much is this option and does cost vary dependent on the software version?

I saw that there is cut options that allow versions to go back to CorelDraw seamlessly, however I will not be using Corel. Is there a way to edit vector points in versions of this software and subsequently export it back to Adobe Illustrator? If so which versions?

I see that TTF Converter is not an option included at any level of this software, how much is this option?