I just like the portability and the durability of the M1. Pocketable and built like a brick. I've yet to see a HD recorder quite like it.
My old M1 is about to bite the dust and even though I rarely tape shows anymore I still want one around whenever the urge hits.
Then look into a iriver h120/h140 or the h320 or h340 models. With rockbox, their recording beasts. I used to own a M1, it was in great shape but sold it once I got a H140 and rockboxed it, I never looked back. Plus, the devices are built very solid and rockbox is quite stable. Plus, they are a lot smaller than the M1, which I would not consider pocketable.