I got to use the new kettle today and a couple of things became clear.
1. I need a sturdier/larger burner. The kettle overhung my el cheapo turkey burner by 2-3" on all sides, and the whole assembly sagged and wobbled in a disconcerting manner. Happily, SWMBO saw the wobble and immediately authorized yet another purchase.
2. Not worrying about boil-overs (5 gallon batch in 15 gallon kettle) is a wonderful thing.
3. Tri clamps are really easy to remove. Clean up was a super breeze. Not that it was that hard on the old kettle with the non-conveniently-removable valve, but a minor upgrade nonetheless.
4. Draining out of the 1" valve was incredibly fast. Probably only saved a minute or two over my old 1/2" valve, but it was very cool to see the kettle drain almost instantly. Made me smile.
5. I really liked having the thermometer mounted on the kettle as opposed to the clip-on thermometer I had been using with the old kettle. Double checked it several times against my thermapen and it read accurately. Another small detail that made me happy.
6. The lid-hanger device worked fine and was yet another minor convenience.
7. In the end, the kettle really has nothing I needed other than sheer size, but it has lots of little niceties. The tri clamps and larger ferrules are (to me anyway) totally unnecessary but super cool and I'm glad I have them.