After the biketreks demo ride I have decided on an orange 5 Pro.

the standard fork is a Fox 32 Float R
I could upgrade to a Fox 32 Float RLC FIT for an extra £150.

I am sure the RLC is a better fork but will I be
happy with the R and spend some extra on other bits instead like
a Maxle rear end, headset and perfmance pack.

thoughts please.

i think lockout of some sort is worth having, and also teh ability to wind the fork down is useful. YMMV.
take it both those are with 15mm?
i'd upgrade the fork before going maxle myself.

Vanilla?

The Float 32R that came with my 2007 5 felt pretty prone to diving. I never managed to find a pressure for it that found a happy medium between "doesn't move enough" and "dives too much". Perhaps some compression adjustment would have helped. On the other hand, I think that more recent Floats are supposed to have improved on that front.

I eventually replaced the Float with a Magura Wotan. It can still be a bit divey but I can run it with the Albert Plus damping on and set to a low level, which reduces the dive but still keeps the fork active.

I have an 08 5 Pro and went for the 32 RLC after having a few weekends with a demo bike that had the R. I found it a bit wallowy on fire road climbs etc

I reckon lockouts on mid travel bikes like that are a waste of time. One of those things that you think you're missing when you haven't got but never use when you have.

EDIT: 15mm axle is deffo worth having though

I had a demo Pro for the weekend that was fitted with Floats and was great until i wanted to go up hill

I went for the Talas on my Pro and am glad i did, well worth the extra money….just wish i had gone for the 160's somedays in the peaks

Oh well something to pop on the upgrade list 😉

get 36's if you really want to push the limits of the bike. OTT for a lot of stuff but they dont slow you down any on climbs if you go for talas and you wont regret it on the downs.

Talas on mine , only 32s but they make a big difference on the climbs
didnt get a discount when i bought mine but did get £400.00 worth of upgrades , always worth asking 😀

Got Vanilla 32Rs with QR15 on mine and they're excellent.

I had a 32 TALAS RLC and now have the plain 32 R. I don't miss any of the functions on the TALAS RLC. Easy to spend too much time 'fettling'.
I would spend the money on a maxle rear end because the frame is what you're likely to keep the longest. Think of it as future proofing.

36 talas in my opinion.