The original 1200 boards were a disaster if you didn't have them grounded well. The VCA chips for the slide controls would get hit by static discharge and crap out. Good luck if you have an early vintage 1200 with the SSM 2013 chips - Arrakis will rape you $25 a shot and most often you need to replace both on a stereo channel! Mine had SSM2018 chips and I was able to second-source them for much less, but they are discontinued as far as I've been told. I suppose this could be considered strike one.
Arrakis let me done yet again when I got the ARC-10 board. The first owner somehow dinged one of the wooden end-bells on the console. Arrakis offered to send him a no-charge replacement for it but he decided not to bother with it since he would have had to partially disassemble the unit to install it and the user wasn't all that comfortable doing so. Once I got the console I decided I would like it to be 100% pristine and I thought Arrakis might extend the same courtesy to me - no such luck! I still have the message on my voicemail system. I got a call from Dale at Arrakis informing me the end bell was going to be $30 for a piece of painted "wood" (probably some sort of composite material and not real wood). Needless to say, this was strike two. Add the fact you can't get a schematic for the console and at least in my mind this is strike three. Not honoring the warranty for a two month old console because the original purchaser sold it is simple absurd - hello Arrakis? Are you listening? I think we're up to strike four if anybody's counting!
Digilink automation for $100 a month? You're kidding, right? A small market station can get the StationPlaylist Pro suite for about $400 USD and buy a backup computer to keep in the closet for cheaper than tossing $1200/year to Arrakis. Heck, a replacement computer would cost a station less than that so why not get a couple of workstations to keep on hand? StationPlaylist licensing for additional workstations is pretty inexpensive and I personally think it smokes Digilink as far as features. As long as the station personnel is diligent in backing up the system it wouldn't matter about a lightning strike - pull the spare computer out of the closet and load the latest backup on it. Cheap, reliable and much less expensive than $100/month.
It was my experience with the ARC-10 that really soured me on Arrakis, which is probably why they never refer to the Radio World review of the ARC-10 on their web site - I suppose they don't many to realize the truths I mention there.
