Robbie that is the deal I got on mine. sounded good to me. ill let you know how it works after I finish my pool in a few months. just getting a little ahead of the game on this one.
I couldn't find a supplier for the M5 around me either. And Dallas/Fort Worth isn't a small town.
Regarding the question about L shaped pools, I think the Z5 is a good solution. It is a "zero turn" robot. It turns on a dime and heads another direction, rather than lazily wandering around. I think it would work for your pool.
For me the timer/auto run feature would be worth the expense since I travel a lot. I would like it to run every day so I don't come home to a giant mess.
Everyones experience is different, but personally I wouldn't leave it to run when I'm not around. all it takes is one idiot to pull it out of the water when its running and bye bye pool cleaner, not to mention, they can get stuck, break etc
How does taking it out while running damage the unit? I'm surprised there aren't major warnings in the manual about this.
The M5 is the one with those options. The Z5 only has a power button.
I'm loving my Z5.