I don't really need the pro version of anything just something that I can get comfortable learning the basic interface with and study from that isn't going to shut down and stop saving the good stuff that I can actually do with it. It's all about the interface, how easy it is to work with, good documentation and universal logics. 

Softimage is bad about universal terms but because the learning edition  'Mod Tools' is free and they've included awesome documentation of how to use all the features, I can overlook the obscure phrasing for it's features and tool set. 

As for Carrara, it's a bit bare bones, isn't it? I relies on DAZ Studio for layout and I don't imagine that it come with a full-featured 3D painter, clothes taylor, competent hair generator included?

Modo sounds like it does everything I want but it shuts off completely after thirty days so you feel a bit forced to focus on all your time, every day for a month, with Modo. I have it downloaded but haven't installed it because of that.