A stock Ego comes with ramping out of the box, comes with a clamping feedneck out of the box and comes with a purging on/off out of the box, that's 3 upgrades for a start!!! And the stock Proto trigger is rubbish, it wobbles about the place!
I'm not knocking PM5s, they are good, but to get the to the level of a STOCK Ego you've gotta spend some cash... end of.
I never had to call or e-mail Dye for support, but my opinion was based on the information available online. You go to Planet's website, there are manuals, tips, everything you need. Dye's has nothing, you ave to go to a forum to get any info. I'm sure Dye's after sales support is good, but a little investment in knowledge sharing goes a long way.