Can you elaborate to help me and others?
Sure, and just in case it wasn't obvious I want to be transparent about the fact that I'm a vendor that has been designing and selling brewing equipment for 12 years. People that don't know me may assume I'm criticizing competing gear for my own gain, but it's not how I roll. I'm a very active competitive homebrewer and my main motivation is pushing myself and others to improve and spend their money on systems that yield the most consistent results.
What is the issue with the sprayer in the lid? Please explain.
Of all the possible ways to deliver recirculated wort back over a grain bed, a fine mist or sheet of liquid cascading down through the head space is just not the best way to approach it. For one, it's cooling off before it even hits the grain. Then, depending on how you feel about hot side oxidation damage, it's definitely the method that will introduce the most oxygen into the wort for the duration of the mash. Would it be enough to degrade the beer? I don't know but there's no reason to spray the wort for an hour.
Controller integrated but limited? I need more info please.
It's a typical PID controller in function, but it's done as an integrated board in the box rather than a more industry standard 1/16th DIN replaceable module. If the logic board fails, the only possible recourse is to replace the circuit board and that depends heavily on whether the parts will be available if it fails. In a box that uses a 1/16th DIN module, you can buy that from anywhere.
I say that it's limited, and that's compared to competitors like the Auber Cube and the Blichmann Brew Commander. Both of these controllers have more brew-day automation with built in timers and alarms. The brew commander has the same "con" of using integrated circuit boards, but at the very least it's got all these other functions that perhaps justify the integration at the lower price point.
The whirlpool in the kettle I can understand if that is important to you.
Primarily it's just the fact that a system that uses a pump might as well have the ability to whirlpool. But not only that, it's important if you're interested in leaving break material and hop sludge behind. I understand their package includes hop baskets to get around the hop sludge part of this, but I prefer whirlpooling with uncontained hops because hop baskets are pretty stagnant and you have to actively mix to make sure they are giving up the oils. However, the bigger reason I recommend a whirlpool return is to augment the mash recirculation with a strong stirring of the liquid mash below the basket (or preferably a bag in my case). You'll hear folks with single vessel systems talk about temperature fluctuations and the stirring under the grain eliminates that very effectively. For more info on that:
Single Vessel Temp Stability
I am not trying to break your balls.. I am merely trying to understand what the concerns are and if they will affect me.
Break away. I didn't want to spend the time expanding on this whole thing until I knew you were interested.