Hi Dan:
The ST2000 works adequately. As the rudder is transom hung, and not balanced, the tiller can be rather heavy as you would know, making any selfsteering machine having to work hard. As such, it could not handle offwind or downwind. But upwind and broad reaches fine, also while under motor (ie those long sails where the wind fails) it was great. Because of the heavy load, I burnt one out, and failed another because of water ingress (it was upside down in the lazerette). So keep it right side up, and realize that there will some conditions where you will have to take over. But all that over 19 years of sailing the boat.
It uses an internal compass for regular operation, and I connected it to my wind indicator for wind following. I initially connected it to my Garmin to follow routes but on principle decided that was not a good idea, a principle which is independent of the machine.
Regards
Roy
