As I have found next to not much on either of these messers (trainers) how have people found them? In terms of durability, paired against other weapons like various makers longswords, flex, grip length use etc.
Which is the favorite?

For me I like the look of the DW messer and the long curved pommel, the A&A looked to be more tool like and ugly, but then I saw what it must have been based off, and gave it another look.
As they are both fairly closely priced you could go either way.

cheers.

If you want to see some specs on the A&A messer, look HERE at Kult of Athena.

There is a thread HERE about the A&A. It goes into some detail, and is overall quite favorable to it. I have one myself. Though I haven't had occasion to use it yet, it feels light and handy, has a good, solid, durable edge, and looks like it can take some punishment. It doesn't look like many of the original messers, but I believe A&A determined that the more they looked like those more elaborate types, the more expensive they would be. They would also weigh a lot more.

I had some trouble finding the messer at Darkwood, but finally came across it - HERE It does have more of a beak on the pommel than does the A&A.

Yea thanks I had found where to aquire them from, and I did stumble across that thread, I was more hoping for a more up to date view on these two trainers as I have heard little.
cheers.

The current version of the A&A is even nicer than earlier models. They are very lively and very tough. Several of my students and I put ours through serious use with almost no problems. One of my guys did have a blade break very recently against a very out of control opponent, and this is after two years of hard use, and A&A replaced it anyway.

The Darkwood model handles very well, too, but the edges are a bit more square, which means you'll have to file them down yourself. The one I handled had a little less presence than the A&A, so I like the A&A a little more because of that, but both are fairly comparable in terms of general feel. I have not used the Darkwood other than swinging it around in the air, though, so I can't tell you much more than that.