There is an ongoing debate between the arenas of CCD imager's about the performance of the one-shot color cameras appearing on the market that was once dominated by mono CCD's. A lot of pro and cons have been discussed on this subject. Having own and used both cameras extensively I decided to conduct my own tests to finally put results, instead of theory or hearsay, on the table. I've conducted a series of tests that include acquiring and processing data from both the XCM color camera and the mono XM w/filters. Both cameras use the same Kodak KAI-2020 CCD's with the same electrical characteristics which makes this a very fair comparison. The only difference between the two cameras is the Bayer mask used with the XCM CCD sensor, which is the focal point of performance differences.

  Every effort was made to acquire the data with similar outdoor environmental conditions, sub-exposure times, overall exposure times, CCD temperature, and same OTA. CCDInspector was used to select the best consistent frames between each data set. I have included objects that range from simple gaseous nebulas to more intricate structures such as the M1 crab nebula. This was to allow a more accurate evaluation of the performance of the two camera types with respect to color accuracy, signal to noise, star shape reproduction and resolution ,to name a few, in order to show their strengths and weaknesses in each category. These tests are to display the 'out of the gate' performance of each camera type before more involved processing is done. All relevant environment data is included with each image set.

My Disclaimer- This is not a test to compare SBIG cameras, but instead to compare the two types of CCD technology that are used in some of the SBIG camera models. These very same CCD's are also used in other camera manufacturer and the results should be approximately similar.
The results displayed here were based on the equipment I have and seeing conditions so your mileage will vary.

This is truly an apples to apples comparison.