I will grant that the click wheel takes a bit to get used to. I also have a 30gig 5th gen. I have a clumsy thumb and often get the item next to the one i want. Bad eyesight further complicates the process.
Your battery life is way off. I flew from Seoul to Cairo with a long layover in Dubai listening to music all the way and had battery to spare when I got to the flat. As for video, I don't even foresee burning up watts even to test it - maybe it's the bad eyesight thing.
About the syncing - do you have your time-zone set right? You say it's off by an hour, so I'd check whether you have the default clock set correctly.
I really don't care much about the scratches - I want uninterrupted music. Anyone who notices the scratches is looking too closely.
But - if it really is too much of a problem, my birthday is coming up -