Hi MM,
I have looked into Mirrorless, and if it was me alone I would be buying a Sony A7II full frame, simple... but it is not about me. As per my original post we spent some time yesterday handling cameras, Mirrorless ILC's and DSLR. At the end of the day the D5500 fitted and felt most comfortable in the persons hands that has to use it the most. I made sure we tried different length /weight lenses to see how it felt weight wise etc...

The ultimate goal here is to make sure my daughter holds and grows her interest in photography, so I have to give her some freedom to choose.

Hence also the add-ons as such must be able to be taken to the next body we purchase.

She is only 12 now but hand size is not to much of a issue, I am 6'6 and her mum not much shorter... Poor kid has big feet and hands like her dad... . She could hold the Canon 5D and Nikon D750 quiet well, the Sony/ Olympus/ Pentax same same... It really come down to overall comfort and ability to accesses the controls, the D5500 won in that area.

I had not really looked at the D5500 seriously, had read a few reviews and looked at the specs, as I was biased towards a Full Frame camera. So I had a spent most of my time researching Canon/ Sony/ Nikon Full Frame cameras.

Thanks
Shane