Curently working in Brisbane, AU, on to Seoul at the end of the week. As stated previously we removed the autopilot from our boat when we got it for several reasons, and have not had any reason to install another one for several reasons.
In the islands in the PNW and on up the coast into BC, we find hand-steering anything but boring. We quite enjoy it, and we find that it does not limit keeping a lookout at all. Not at 8 knots.
I have nothing against autopilots-- we used one all the time when out fishing in Hawaii. But up here, we would be constantly making corrections to the autopilot to avoid stuff in the water, and most of the headings we hold we rarely hold for more than about 15 minutes given our always-changing course legs through the islands.
If we had one we'd use it, particulary on the few longer stretches like across Bellingham Bay (5 miles) or the Georgia Strait. But again, we'd be changing heading fairly frequently to avoid stuff in the water,
so other than turning a knob instead of a wheel, it wouldn't be that different than hand steering.
We know a few people who have autopilots on their boats and they say they rarely use them other than across the few longer stretches of water they encounter. And.... like us at our helm, they are having to make frequent adjustments to avoid logs or eelgrass mats or whatever.
If we boated in more open waters with longer course legs and less debris in the water I know an autopilot would bring several benefits.
So I think its value is based primarily on where one boats, and the nature of the "terrain" in which one boats. They're certainly dirt simple to use. It's more a question of whether or not it adds a significant value to running the boat. For us, we don't think it would. But as I say, if we had one again on the boat we would most likely use it for those times when it would be useful. But those times are few and far enough between to keep one off our "to do" list.
So, as usual with most things having to do with boats, there's no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to the value of an autopilot. For us, we'd rather put the cost in the fuel tanks.