I tried the panda engine too, but I couldn't find a real level editor like 3DGS has, this makes it difficult to place entities.
I think panda is good, but I did not get far.
Notice that panda is a game engine, and ogre is a GRAPHICS engine.
Graphics engines usually do not offer enough functions for games(no sounds, no physics, no network,etc).
panda can do this all, but I would still say 3D GAMESTUDIO!