I have the Tailgater and the vip211k. This is my first sat sys so I have nothing to compare it with. However, the Tailgater does a great job of finding the birds and giving me TV with zero effort. For me, that "zero" in the effort column makes it all worthwhile.
I've had the sys for over a year and still haven't hooked up the usb drive to make it a dvr, because that requires effort. However, you can do that, with a small fee and a phone call (more effort).
The tailgator can only get you one bird at a time, which essentially means one channel at a time, I think.
Highly recommended!