You nailed it - the reason I've stuck with this font for so long is that I really appreciate the beauty of a proper x-height more than I prefer the supposed readability advantages of tall coding fonts. As long a font gets the basic features right (tails on Iilt etc characters, dot in the 0) I've never struggled with reading in monospace for hours on end.
I thought the point of narrower fonts isn't readability but being able to squeeze longer lines into the same screen area. I find it helpful on 14" laptops as it can make the difference necessary to have two files side by side in a readable font size.
You nailed it - the reason I've stuck with this font for so long is that I really appreciate the beauty of a proper x-height more than I prefer the supposed readability advantages of tall coding fonts. As long a font gets the basic features right (tails on Iilt etc characters, dot in the 0) I've never struggled with reading in monospace for hours on end.