While I have loved the ease of use of this auxiliary steering unit, it has had it's issues. They came to a head last Saturday when the unit failed an hour into the day's fishing. When I removed and opened up the unit I found the better part of a cup of water inside this supposedly sealed unit. Salt water plus electonics equal corrosion and failure. Upon closer inspection, it appears that the the sealant used was not uniformly applied, and that water had entered through the control shaft opening. At the price of these units, the quality/longevity is lacking. The other issue is with the wireless remote unit. The screw that is supposed to hold the unit snugly together is bedded into a piece of plastic. After a couple of battery changes, you can not properly tighten this down, and have to tape the unit together. Despite being past the warranty, I decided that I would pursue the issue.
I arranged a meeting with the rep for the Distributor and told him, in detail, the problems. He immediately arranged for a new replacement to be shipped on a warranty basis. He also indicated that this was definitely not the first unit to have these problems, and that he was quite unhappy with the manufacturers denials that there was a problem. He provided me with the name and number of the individual who heads up Panther's tech support (Dale Hagen 1-800-634-7838) and the company president (larry Grundtner 1-651-203-2172) and suggested that I talk to both of them. I have left messages with both individuals and am awaiting a reply. I will provide an update when I have had my chats with them.
An interesting sidenote is that the new units apparantly are being shipped with a seal kit to prevent the problems I (and others?) have had. If anyone else has these units and is having problems, feel free to contact me and I will share info on who to talk to on the Island.

Update
I spoke this morning to their head tech rep. He stated that the new motor units have a rubberised coating to protect them from moisture, and that the units do not need to be watertight and there is a drain hole (old units do not have them, I looked) to prevent water build-up. He also said that if anyone has an older unit that fails, they will replace the old motor with a new (no charge) one even if warranty has expired. I took this as a tacit admission that they know and acknowledge that this has been an issue. I think that I would go through Western Marine's rep and ensure that he is aware of this conversation, if I were to send a unit back.
I suspect, being the skeptic that I am, that I will also seal the new unit better than they did, prior to use, to minimise the amount of water getting inside.

I put a T4 on my kicker a couple of months ago, and its a lot better than the ez-steer system I had before. I did notice that when I was installing the unit, there was an o-ring that needed to be installed snuggly on the shaft to prevent water from coming into the unit. Is that what your talking about, when you mentioned a new seal on the newer units?

That's it! Also the new units are supposed to have a small drain hole on the body - ensure that it is on the bottom. I still intend to improve the seal on the body to minimize water entry. These steps, with the new rubber coated motors, should ensure a long and useful life for these units, and I can be a happy fisher again.
Cheers