Out at my farm/acreage private range I am currently running two of the standard merlins and four with the wobble kit. I've been running them for the past 3 years, and have yet to fix anything on any of the machines.
Regarding remotes - I started out with the long range LT200 system on a couple machines, and was wholly dissatisfied with it, enough that for a small time I went to a wired cable with a foot petal release (highly recommended if all you're looking at is a single machine). If you don't want to buy the foot petal, it can be easily made with a trip to an industrial electric supply store.
Now I'm up to a full 6 machines in a setup that's most closely described as a couple of fitasc stands, and I'm using long range R4300 receivers with the long range T8 transmitter. It is an awesome remote setup that works very well, even in varying terrain.
Regarding the machines; if I only had one machine I would want it to be a wobble machine, however they are definitely battery drainers by comparison to the standard machine without the wobble. The reason for this is that the wobble is permanently on...it does not cycle on only when it throws a clay, rather it just goes and goes and goes. In retrospect I should have only bought 2 wobbles and had all the rest of my machines as standard merlins without the wobble.
I sold a bunch of guns to get my clay thrower setup, and hands down it is the most fun I have ever had.
Cheers, and good luck!
Brobee