I would definitely not make a power top a deal breaker. I have a power top on my current bird and a manual one on my first bird. Not that big a deal to put it down manually. You will lower your population considerably.

Swapping to a manual is not that hard. Did it on my first bird and toy with the idea currently. At this point in my life however, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to pull a perfectly functioning, albeit a terrible design (ST300), transmission. Simply there are no enough gears in the ST300 IMHO.