[Kevin Sevcik]

57 has used CAN for 2 years and we're heading into our 3rd this year. We've had occasional problems with the CAN network dropping out, but I'm pretty certain they were all self-inflicted. Things like the CAN-Serial adapter coming loose from the cRIO, or a finicky terminator that would occasionally short if you looked at it funny. I think CAN is plenty reliable if you're careful about your wiring. The major drawback is that a bad connection will take your whole network down, instead of a single motor.

As for reliability, we've had a handful of the Gray Jags go bad on us, but we haven't lost a black one yet. Again, I think being careful around your electronics is the main thing. The Jags are more susceptible to metal shavings than the Vics, so you need to cover up your electronics if you're producing shavings. Which you should be doing in any case, even if your Vics are less likely to fail because of it. There's plenty of other stuff in the control system that's vulnerable to metal shavings nowadays.