I been using a Sirus 24 for the past 6 years, and i've got no real complaints.
Ours was bought new, and its just starting to show its age, ie. sliders are going
etc. Nevertheless, its taken a lot of punishment, and is still going, just about.
Like herr_highbrau said, its a good basic board, and I have found it to be very reliable. It does not handle smart lights well at all, but then its not designed to be used with them.
Its prety basic, but still allows you to do decent and fairly complex programming, although i've found u have to be careful with the GO
button, as the contact starts to degrade as its gets older. Unfortunately, we've had many a missed que due to the
button not responding!
It still allows you to do chases, which you can link up to the sound
system and do sound to light with.
Unfortunately, I have no idea, as to how much you should pay, as it was bought before my time, but nevertheless, I agree that it should/will be a good investment!