C50towner, first of all, how tall are you? Tuning up the seat and suspension to drop it a bit shouldn't be too difficult unless you are on the short side.
My first bike of this type was a KLR650. I test rode a privately owned BMW R1200GS and DL1000 before I bought a DL650, and took the DL650 for only a short ride.
The all-around nature of the DL650, modest price and high demand means that even if you buy it and don't like it you aren't risking much.
The Versys isn't offered with GPS, so the closest competitor to the DL650 would be the BMW F650GS (actually an 800).