I have an M5, and I'd hardly call it a "gimmick" – it's extremely useful for providing access to a wide range of different effects that I only need occasionally without eating up several pedals' worth of space on my board. I'm not keeping a whammy and an additional delay and a bunch of modulations sitting around on the off chance that *maybe* I'll need to use them.
Expecting more than one effect at a time with algorithms this complex is absurd. How much processing power do you think an effect like Crystals or Blackhole requires? For multiple effects, you'd need multiple processors, and a significantly more complex interface, which nixes your advantage both in terms of price and device size. The Factor pedals and other digital processors from other companies seem to be selling just fine at this price point with only one effect at a time, so apparently that's not a concern for a significant group of musicians.
