So, I pulled the trigger on a 512GB 960 Pro for what seemed like a good deal (435AUD + free shipping), because the drawn-out wait on reviews and proper benchmarks and shipments of products was consuming too much of my time, and meanwhile my new Skylake/Pascal build is running off tiny old laptop drives. It seems like I'm dodging the issues with the Evo line, hopefully there isn't a disappointment in store when 512GB versions of the Pro finally get into the hands of reviewers. I narrowly resisted that Black Friday deal on the sleeveless M8Pe due to a lack of review coverage. Overall the release of this wave of NVMe drives has been very frustrating, and I can't see how the NAND shortage can explain the poor messaging and lack of availability of the tiny amount of samples needed for reviewers, but I guess that's easy to say as an outsider.
Sorry if this reads like a comment from an entitled enthusiast, it's just kind-of a mind dump.