vane you choose - I looked at various models for several years before settling on the Norvane which is totally cast stainless, no dissimilar metals, and no welds. It is a marvel of engineering, craftsmanship, light weight and strength. The only thing keeping this vane from being the number one seller, in it's field, is lack of marketing. All that said, Greg's Monitor is the "gold standard" when it comes to vane's and I would have probably put one on our boat except for it's size and weight. I have talked to many owners of both these vanes and they have experienced very few problems.

As far as tiller-pilots go, it is true that they are not as dependable as the better class of wind vane, but having done repairs on most of the models over the years (a hobby of mine) I have become familiar with the two major brands left and have personally settled on the Simrad 32 . Even though it is overkill for our size boat, I find it the more robust and dependable of the current crop of tiller pilots. The old Autohelm, was a very good vane for it's day, but Raymarine, who bought them out, insisted on cheapening the design to lower production cost.

Where you have a tillerpilot mounted and it's sea-state settings can have a huge bearing on it's longevity. While most folks believe these to be non-serviceable by the layman, nothing could be farther from the truth. I open mine up at least every other year and apply (judiciously) synthetic grease to the moving mechanical parts, replace the belt if needed ($3.50 from your local belt supply - $45. from Raymarine - same gates belt). Any sign of salt water intrusion must be dealt with. I then smear the sealing gasket with silicon for a more dependable seal and put it back together. We use our tiller pilots for coastal sailing and in more congested areas. I do have totally separate circuits installed for each of our Simrads and can switch them out in a matter of seconds, though that has not been necessary as yet.

All this is just one knotheads opinion and your mileage may vary!