Meanwhile I walked to my bag and pulled out my OM 3 which I have not used in a long while but intend to use next week and the battery was fine and the meter all good. I disagree that the highlight/shadow/spot metering system isn't suitable for manual use -- I find it gives me the kind of flexibility and information a really good hand held meter would give me; I can expose accordingly; indeed I can (somewhat) use the zone system, moving my medium gray up and down to account for highlights and shadows.
And none of this gets at the lenses -- which are simply spectacular in my experience. My OM 35mm f/2 is the best SLR 35mm lens I've ever used.
That said, I do agree if that you don't want that level of metering you are best off with a 1n or 2n. It was the metering that attracted me in the first place, and I found little joy in the 4T's automation -- I'm getting more and more allergic to that level of half automation (Aperture priority AE). Give me the whole bit (auto focus, auto exposure, etc, as with an F100 Nikon or a DSLR) or leave me be to figure it out myself. The in-between cameras have started to confuse me. Call it old age. So I sold the 4T and kept the OM3.