"A few years ago I tried Blender and hated it and went with Hexagon. Three weeks ago I thought I'd give 2.54 a try.... and I totally love it. 2.54 and now 2.55 are a lot easier to learn. Why learn an "old" version and then relearn the new version? I can heartily recomend  both the  free and paid for courses at blendercookie, they were enough to get me going and there are quite a few tutorials out there already for 2.5x."

Almost the same here. I like Hexagon a lot -- it's a modeler than makes good sense and is the easiest modeler to learn I've ever used, but there's so much more to Blender: its UV unwrap tools are far superior, as are its painting, texturing, and sculpting capabilities. I believe that starting to model is difficult on any modeler, but after the basic concepts are learned, switching modelers is not so hard.

I used 2.49 for quite a while after 2.5 came out because 2.5 lacked certain tools and it seemed to be changing constantly, but 2.54 and 2.55 are pretty stable and complete with some nice advances. Plus, the interface is more consistent, and just -- slicker, more professional.

I haven't bought Blendercookie's Blender course tutorials, but if they're like the free tutorials they offer, they are likely a worthwhile investment. I have Blender Foundation's "The Essential Guide to Learning Blender 2.6," and that's a very good place to start, too.