Comment by jcgrillo

> A small microcontroller with a relay tends to be more reliable.

Until some bug surfaces that requires a reboot to -fix- work around, but since the device is powered by a battery (EDIT: still puzzling through what might happen when this battery runs out..) which isn't user serviceable and has no reset switch... The device I tore down this morning fits that description. I'll take my chances with a bit of calibration and some yearly maintenance. My vehicles all have grease points and maintenance schedules, I can handle also greasing my thermostat contacts ;)

That said, the regulators taking away the mercury switch isn't an excuse for the user hostility. They could have made a device that is less sketchy. Even if they actually did a great job and it's in fact much safer and more reliable than the analog device (in which case they should show data), I know I can open up the analog one and make it work. I can figure out how to keep it working. I can look at it and evaluate whether I trust it. I cannot do that with some proprietary blob on an MCU.