I think you should put
Raymarine on your list as well. I two Raymarine that have done 3 Atlantic crossings + 20000Nm coastal sailing. They are still going strong and will take of for a fourth
Atlantic crossing in November.
I have been using Raymarine
Computers together with drive units from L&S and Hypro.
Normally it is the drive unit that fails. Many manufacturers uses hydraulic drives from
https://www.hypro.co.uk. Simrad, B&G,
Furuno, Raymarine buy some of their hydraulic drives from Hypro.
The only major
hardware problem I have had was this summer when the L&S drive gave up on a 3 day crossing. That is the drive that NKE uses. I replaced that with a drive from Hypro. The L&S drive is degraded to backup.
I have also had B&G, Simrad and
Furuno pilots on earlier boats. I have had no
hardware problems with them. But I very much prefer the Raymarine as it always have been performing better in big seas.
I would like to test a B&G or Simrad
autopilot as I’m sure they have improved their
software from earlier generations.
For world cruising you should either install a backup autopilot or carry spares. Autopilots do not fail often. But if they do on a long
passage it is a major problem.
Also do not forget that autopilots uses electricity. You want to have backup for your
charging system.
A Wind
steering unit solves that problem.