I have finally activated an original Droid yesterday. Sort of a birthday gift to myself. I've had it on wifi for a couple of months and was playing around with rooting and ROMs. It's running CM7. Now, as a phone, it seems pretty stable- although there are some issues with CM7 on D1 that I will confront.
My monthly bill will only be going up about $15 or $20 with the changes I've made to my account on Verizon. Should be under $70/mo.

Would I be correct in saying the phone is 'as unique' as the Nexus in terms of customization options?
Sure, it's two years behind in hardware...