[jacquesm]

As far as I'm concerned they're totally useless, finicky, easy to break, vulnerable cabling, need to be charged. An indexed cable switcher is ultra reliable and just as precise (assuming you adjust the cable once every year or so if used heavily).

[wl]

That has not been my experience with Di2. No cable stretch means no need to adjust anything—not to mention no more lubing cables. Perfect shifting every time with no adjustment needed is the opposite of finicky. Multishift, shifting with the tap of a button, and hood buttons are quite useful. Charging the battery 2-3x a year is a small price to pay for all of this.

[jacquesm]

Ok. Ymmv apparently, had a Di2 bike near me bought by a friend, nothing but trouble. Eventually they dropped the Di2 system and installed a nice mechanical system and the bike has been fine ever since. That's a pretty low sample count and it is of course possible that that was a lemon. But the bike itself (a Bulls, top of the line model) is pretty good and the rest of the parts held up just fine.