I've gone a similar route in using what is basically a blade designed for cutting metal, in my case an M42 bi-metal blade. I made the move to M42 because I fitted an aftermarket fence that requires some disassembly in order to change the blade, so I decided to minimise the frequency of blade changes with a Tuff Saws bi-metal product. Furthermore I dropped from my normal 3/4-1" blades down to a 1/2" blade in 3tpi and find that does just fine for both curve cutting and ripping the 300mm wide x 3mm thick veneers that I use regularly. They certainly deliver longevity, I cut thousands of feet of difficult to machine timbers like teak, ebony and rosewood between blade changes.
But they do have some disadvantages.
The kerf is a bit wider which makes a difference when slicing veneers in very expensive timbers. They need a lot more tension, which was part of the reason for dropping down to a 1/2" blade. Manufacturers get very optimistic with machine ratings and if your machine is rated for say 1" that'll likely be based on a thin carbon steel blade and it won't be able to handle a 1" bi-metal blade. Also, they last a long time but they don't last for ever (nothing does, I've worked in workshops that use stellite tipped bandsaw blades and they didn't last forever either, and the replacement cost was hundreds of pounds a time!), in fact I suspect they run at "acceptably dull" for a long time and you do find yourself applying that bit more pressure when feeding stock through, so you need your thrust guides to be in excellent condition, I've since moved to ceramic guides partly for this reason, but that all gets pretty spendy when you add it up! The cut is okay, but it isn't quite as smooth as I've had with things like "Meat & Fish" blades, if you cut tenons or dovetails on your bandsaw that could be relevant. And because I've switched to a narrower blade the hardened teeth now run very much on the tyres, so that might have implications for tyre life, but I'll only know that in the future.
On balance I'm pleased with the move and wouldn't go back (incidentally I use a Hammer N4400 bandsaw which I think is the same as Marc uses?) but like all these things there are plusses and minuses so it's never quite as clear cut as initially appears.
