Considering the problems you had upgrading to the 2016, Im surprised you're so up to rely on a brand new system. After my experience with the 2016, Im not sure I would start using this (as a means to dose or stop dosing of ca/alk/mg) until it had been out and tested for at least a year. I had a story similar to yours, 2 crashes based on a faulty chip in my first 2016 and a problem with glitches after a firmware upgrade. This cost thousands of dollars, hours of time and months from which to recover. I sold all my modules, use my Radion reef link to program lights, my gyre is programmed by the gyre controller (rather than the apex module). Dosing is through an independent dose. If Apex and its programming fails, it affects my tank very little. I love the ability to monitor things (this makes the trident an expensive toy) and I like the ability to turn outlets off/on for maintenance. But it amazes me how so many people rely on this controller to do extremely complex things with their tanks.
I agree with some of what you wrote. The thing for me is Neptune handled my issues the best way possible and gained my trust. In one instance, I got four emails on a Sunday from a tech trying to help. That said a lot about the company. The issue with the new apex was identified and solved quickly so I sold it and bought it months later, when they reached out to tell me it was good to go. Neptune was kind enough to test my unit before they sold it to me. The new system has been running without any hickups since early November 16. I could have waited 3 years and still bought a lemon system, who knows. Some companies sell heaters for decades but you still will never know how it will act in your tank until you plug it in. Considering the amount of Apex's out there and the complexity of the product compared to a simple heater, I think they do pretty good.
I understand some people dont like automation, after all things can go wrong. Im quite the opposite and have the controller running most of my tank. Yes more room for murphys law to act upon, but this little orange box saved my floors twice when my overflow clogged. It saved me three floors of saltwater damage at my house so Im ok with it running my return pump for now.
IMO the ease to monitor it all, allowing me to enjoy the tank's equipment in one screen on my phone makes up for the risk any day. Thats just me though