RE: digital vs analogue
Digitals also seem to start moving a little quicker and they generally center easier.
Are they really necessary? I think it depends on what type of flying you are into. For general sport flying, the average pilot might not notice much difference. When you start getting into serious precision flying, advanced 3D and stuff like that though, the digitals might provide a lot of advantages.
I have many analogs and quite a few digitals.