Interesting thread with some very well reasoned arguments, I guess the big question is how many 861v8’s are Meridian selling? As we will never have an answer to that, one question we may be able to ask is:

How many HH have purchased a NEW 861v8 in the last 12 months?

This may provide some insight into the likelihood of 861v8 upgrades, I side with Gianni on this.