I have used and installed pex a few times, and it has held up awesomely. I have done both trunk and branch and homerun systems. if you put the manifold as centrally as you can, or closer to the area it will be used most, you wont have any issue with long extended waits for hot to comeout. It all depends on where the water heater is in correlation to the manifold in correlation to the outlets. If the basement is where the water heater is going, and you put it directly under the kitchen, and put the manifold in the same area, and the master bathroom is 30 feet from the kitchen, you will have hot water almost instantly in the kitchen where you will have a longer wait for the hot to get to the master bath, especially when you dont use the master bath hot but once or twice a day.