Thanks for all the feedback, Wolfgang, Jan and Florian! It's highly
useful. Now that I'm actually making the purchase and having never
played one in person, I realized that I needed a few opinions before
making a final decision.

@Wolfgang: Just wondering if you ever tried the Doepfer MCV-24 with
the Continuum instead of the Haken CV

@Florian: I had an email discussion with Mr. Rainhart on this topic
almost exactly one year ago (my how time flies!). He certainly was
both very open and pleasant to communicate with and was able to offer
plenty of insight.

Thanks again, everyone.

Kindest regards,
John

> Hi John,
>
> mine has the marked surface, and it helps a lot to hit notes. The
> marks have a slightly different feel to them, which aids in playing
> the continuum without having to look at it all the time. But as I am
> still learning to play it, I still have to look quite often, in fact
> most of the time :-)
>
> Although the marks do have a noticeable different feel to them, these
> differences do not cause noticeable friction restistance differences
> on my fingers when doing slides or gestures accross the surface.
>
> In low light conditions the marks look brighter than the unmarked
> areas, so it starts resembling a reversed-color keyboard, which can be
> confusing for me.
>
> All in all, the continuum is a really great and wonderful controller
> and instrument, and a joy to learn & play.
>
> Best regards,
> Jan-Hinnerk
>