Well, just to close the loop - I am back from vacation and while away I purchased the digital meter. In the end I liked the ability to 'hold' the max SPL feature (thanks JohnK!). This could be handy for my motorcycle. Funny how a non HT related thought made my decision for me. Thanks for the input and discussions. I am looking forward to using it this weekend with the new setup which arrived this week - woohoo!

Very good, Dan. Yes, as I commented before, the added modes on the digital meter, especially the Max modes, give it a substantial advantage over the analog meter. Although most of the discussion seemed to center on the relative ease in reading the two, in my view the modes are an even more important consideration.

I have used digital and analog sound level meters for many years, and find the following: As the defination of digital is to count, and the defination of analog is to measure. The selection should depend on your goals using either type of sound level measuring device.
Digital will be more accurite for absolute level determination.
Analog will be easier to determine trend information.

I prefer to use both systems in my work as a sound engineer.

Welcome to the forum!!