Hi Sean, glad to hear about you taking off and going for it .  Anyway to answer your question , no I have not used a Norvane . But I think windvanes are really cool on a cruising boat . I wonder why Norvane won't answer . they seem to have a nice website. I have never talked to Scanmar ,but  I hear people  like them . I would go with the Monitor , just for the fact that Scanmar is good and the Monitor has been refined over the years . Just my 2cents. Good luck !