Jeff,
   You know as well as I do that we don't have vacuum instruments in
airliners.  I also don't have electric gyros in the 737-800's I fly- they're
all powered by ring laser gyros, which are a bit out of reach for our
airplanes.
   I've been flying planes for 30 years and believe it or not, they were not
all airliners.  I've never personally had a vacuum pump or gyro failure in a
GA plane (knock on wood), but I have had multiple electrically powered gyro
failures in the jets I flew in the Navy.
   In my ES, I have a vacuum powered HSI and horizon, a vacuum gauge AND low
vacuum warning light and an electrically powered turn coordinator for my
S-TEC 55.  That's enough redundancy to satisfy me.  If it's not enough to
satisfy you or anyone else, then by all means go all electric.  I personally
opted for my system to save on cost, complexity and weight.  Changing a
couple of filters a year is not an undue burden to me.  As I said earlier,
my only regret in hindsight is that the vacuum system was a pain to install
and will make it more difficult to remove instruments should the need arise.
   My point is this:  just as some of us prefer Lycs over Continentals, some
of us will have different preferences on instrument power sources.  As a
former military pilot and now airline pilot, I want backups for everything
and I feel I do in my panel.  There's more than one way to skin a cat and
taking a swipe at someone because you felt their experience level made their
position invalid was something I found a bit hard to swallow.
   May the electrons be with you,
   Skip