The hinge is rock solid, there is no movement at all. The only difference is like xtrema312 said, you can feel a little notch where it is cut in. Actually, I like that, the notch lies under the tip of my ring finger on the grip, and I use it as a hand locator so I always have the hand in the exact same position.
I did the snakeskin myself, it was very easy to do as long as you plan each step in advance, and take your time. It came out far better than I would have imagined, and really dressed the bow up nicely. The worst part of the process was taking a piece of sandpaper to my bow, that caused a bit of anxiety, but the end result was worth it.