I''ve had the Navico equivalent (Simrad bought Navico and merely changed the color of the plastic housing from gray to black) on my Pearson 27 for 2 years and really like the unit. No problems, no quirks on any point of sail. Only proviso with that last statement is that I have''nt had a chance to use it in big following seas, conditions which often cause
auto-pilots problems. But my guess is that it will do well even then.
One big advantage of the Simrad is it''s all self-contained. No separate
compass unit to mount elsewhere like with the
Raymarine. People go nuts trying to figure out where to install that
compass. It''s not a concern with the Simrad.
Easy to install yourself as long as you can get the cord down through the binnacle or some other way. I had to run mine through the stainless steel binnacle guard, which I only learned after trying to fish it down the binnacle inself for an hour. No biggee, just aggrevating at the time.
You''ll like the unit. Go for it.