I believe that the main reason people want hand controls is because it takes less effort to work them all day long. I don't run my machine commercially, but after a day of work with my machine, my legs sure are feeling it.
Personally, i believe pilot based controls are more reliable than electric/electronic ones. It's rare to hear issues with pilot or air controls. The electronic ones have issues of getting ut of adjustment or sticking and buning out an actuator and expensive to repair, pilot based ones don't have this issue.
These are just my views, i'm sure others will have others.
