Excellent post Mark!
Dana. When you compared the two subs, did you do so from the same location? As Mark pointed out, positioning will have a huge effect on a subs performance.
The kick-drum punch you get has nothing to do with how low the sub plays. As Mark pointed out, thats the mid bass. Jay did what I think is the most thorough review here of various subs and dug into the 'why' of what he heard more than any place outside of the DIY sub-geek crowd.
A lot of time, that punch that some like so much comes from a mid bass hump. Its much like the 100Hz hump that gives the impression that the M3 puts out more bass than the M22 even though its the other way around.
After all that, if you find more value in the BIC sub, then its the right one for you.