From all the postings I have read, they are a excellent value for the money. As for which is better, well the Huntsman I believe you can send the rifle in and have a second barrel fitted to it. The Sidekick is made so that you can not do that and therefore it does not fall under certain guidelines in some states reference sales of it...

The only advantage of the extra two inch barrel is the longer sighting plane and the fact it is a little better at burning off powder better then the other one. The shorter the barrel the less able to burn gun powder in an efficient manner. That's why people with 22" barrels really make no sense shooting more then 120 grains of powder because un burned powder will normally blow out the end of the barrel. Also because it will handle magnum charges is no reason to shoot them. The accuracy will not be there. 100 grains is the standard charge.

If your not going to fit a second barrel to the rifle and use it only for black powder I would get the 26" model.