I actually have two spring piston air pistols, and they are as different as night and day. In addition to the Tempest, I have a Weihrauch HW 45 in 5mm (.20 caliber, like the Sheridans). It is still a demanding pistol to master, but it is far, far easier than that darn Tempest.
Interesting story - Weihrauch engineers played with different platforms while developing this pistol, one of which was a single stroke pneumatic. The finished product was always going to be a springer, but they had time and budget to play, so they did. The end result was a single stroke pneumatic that was simply too good not to produce, so they did, calling it their HW 75, available only in .177 due to the somewhat underpowered power plant. And I bought one.
These two pistols are outwardly very similar. They provide a fantastic study in contrasts between the two action types. The springer is a good deal more powerful, which was their design intent, but the pneumatic is far easier to shoot well. Both are fantastic pistols. If I had to choose between the two, though, I would start with the pneumatic.
