I just checked the batt with Coconut and it is in excellent condition and has only done 39 cycles. Amazing. Assuming Coconut is reliable.

The guys I bought from didn't sell a screwdriver with it, though some people are bound to. It was an eBay shop selling nothing but genuine Apple batteries straight from China. (From the look of it, I'm confident that it's a knock-off from Apple's supplier rather than a counterfeit.)
I bought a "MacBook Pro" screwdriver kit of c. 32 pieces for £5, also feeding my eBay addiction.

Anecdotal evidence suggests you should stay away from third-party batteries.

Conconut battery is very reliable. Some of the information can also be found in System Profile > Power.
I would be more concerned by the Current Capacity. I put in a new battery because although the machine is less than 12 months old, it had only done 3 cycles and the Current Capacity was 90%. Modern batteries tend to last longer if they are used regularly. If you keep your MBP plugged in all the time and never let the battery run down, that's not going to do it any favours.

The capacity was listed at about 200MAh under its max.

I got one of those batts from China for my last MBP and it crapped out after a few weeks. Looked totally kosher, but...

I usually cycle my batts in all devices from 0-100% once a month when I remember, which is most months. I can't believe that my old iPad Mk 1 is still charging to 100% and running really well and it's four years old. Wifey watches her crappy Thai soaps on it every day, so it's getting thrashed and apparently thriving on such usage.

RAM and a few trinkets ordered, so looking good, except that Crucial only ship Fedex and that means that the Customs will be all over it like a bad rash. :-(

After a couple of days on light use (Safari, Mail, Preview and odd tasks including 15 minutes of Youtube), I can report getting well over 4 hours, so looking good so far.

Just fitted the OWC Electra 3G SSD and 16Gb RAM to this late 2011 MBP.

Very fast operationally, but boot seems a tad laggy. 52 seconds to a password dialogue and 15 seconds to useable thereafter.

That, I might add, was without Mail opening at login. Mail delays that much more. All in all, it seems to be a very capable Mac for the equiv: USD$ 1100 overall cost.

It's still a lot slower at boot than the old 2010 MBA 11" though???

You would have been better served for max speed with a Sata 3/6G, which itself comes in two speeds from Mac sales. 2011 Macbook Pros come with Sata 3/6G interfaces. You put a Sata 2/3G.

I will stop watch more precisely for you later.... But my 2010 which can only do Sata 2 starts up from the Apple Bong (previously having been shut down as opposed to restart which I believe is faster) in under 15 Seconds to sign in and about 4 seconds more to the desk top.

I have OCZ Vector which is in the same ball park as the Faster of the Sata 3 6G from Macsales.

I neglected to mention other factors could be at play boot up wise like directory issues, etc.

Indeed, but I was specifically advised that it probably wasn't worth it, given the kind of apps I use on a daily basis and the 6G cost significantly more.

The boot time is good for shits and giggles when a PC-using friend is visiting, but it's far from critical and what I have now is really snappy, with the exception of the lumbering carcass, a.k.a. Mail.app.

Speaking of which, the MailMate trial never did expire.

Actually the lower end Sata 3/6G electra is basically the same price as the Sata2/3G. The Mercury extreme I agree is about 1/3 more. If it is working for you and your happy that is all that matters.

That's it. I got a good deal on the machine according to agentx and benwiggy, so I didn't mind spending a bit, but how far does one go on a relatively old machine?

Newly minted, latest version and I might have splashed out, but I've got a great machine here for the money spent, so all good.

Boot time is not entirely HD driven. Several radios have to power up and search for a connection and the System take some time getting settled. In my experience, getting connected is where the time is spent rather than reading code from the SSD. Mail is even worse, spending entirely too much time shaking hands with the provider and waiting for it.

You mean Mail.app?

I trimmed the login items and now it's 11 seconds to a password dialogue and the same again to functional. Not bad for a 2011 machine.

I just noticed(!) that my SSDs are in fact 6Gs.

Yes. Mail.app is an abomination.

My 17" MBP (2008) is still brisk enough to be useful though I rarely reboot it. I'm contemplating installing an SSD in my 27" iMac as well. Given what I do with them, I'm much more inclined to upgrade my machines than I am to buy a new one although I do lust after an Air. A 17" MBP is heavy. Mine is on its second battery.

I turn my machines off due to the temperatures here. That and electric storms.

Are you going to fit that SSD yourself?

I did with the laptop, but I'm having second thoughts about the 27" iMac. Having read the on-line instructions on how to do it, I'm not sure my arthritic fingers and mild tremor (at 77 these come with the program) will permit. I've found an Apple certified dealer in town who'll install one in an hour for $75 Cdn (not including the cost of the SSD of course).

Vis-à-vis turning off my machines, Halifax has cold winters so houses are heated to about 20ºC and, with the exception of a hot humid spell in August, summer temperatures generally stay below 25ºC. I've been to Thailand, however, so I know what you're talking about.

I actually bought a new HDD for my old 24" iMac and it remains unmolested in it's packaging. It does look like a swine of a task AND TTP6 seems to have sorted that machine out and it is still running well in my daughter's purview a couple of years later.

yes not for faint hearted !