Some of both!

SmartCraft provides a ton of information but can be difficult paging through while on the run. That is why I went with Mechanical trim and tab indicators as well as things like oil pressure and water temperature. Like Lucky Strike says, the fuel metering is a plus. When you fill up, reset the SmartCraft and you will know exactly how much fuel you gone through until the next time you reset.

Analogs can be read at a quick glance.

Go with mechanical drive and tab indicators. Smartcraft drive indicators hard to see .

I wanted to do a complete digital dash, but not sure about whether I can get gauge readings from a Sterling/

I have Smart Craft on my boat and love it. The system works hand in hand perfect with Merc engine program.

I've got Livorsi gauges in my Powerplay with 525's which have Smartcraft capability. I am in the process of installing a Garmin 3206 chartplotter for navigation. As far as I can make out, Merc's GPS is not a chartplotter, but a basic GPS. Am I correct in this assumption? Also, is there a way besides this Merc display to monitor the Smartcraft functions?

Yes. Navman, which is owned by Brunswick (same as Mercury), has chartplotters that will display SmartCraft info with the use of a SmartCraft Gateway. Go to www.navman.com for more info. I was really close to buying the Navman Tracker 5505i but couldn't find a good place to install it in my 292. Ended up getting a Garmin GPSMAP 378 (it doesn't display any SmartCraft info) but it has a NMEA output that communicates to the SC5000 display so it can tie in the waypoint information with the engine function information. In other words... say I am navigating to a waypoint 100 miles away. The SC5000 screen will tell me based on the speed and efficiency (real time) exactly how much fuel I will use to get there. It also has the compass rose screen which will highlight the exact direction to navigate to get to the waypoint. Pretty cool.

4mulafastech - What is the SC5000 display?

The screen in the middle of the dash below. This is the display from Mercury that shows any and all engine and vessel information and will connect to most chartplotters. It has GPS, but just for speed, not mapping.

Have SmartCraft on the Verados and they give alot of information and can do several functions at once but I do not like having to navigate the different pages..especially while zip along at higher speeds. Some old steam guages would be great for quick glance and scanning for pressures and temps.
But do love thr SmartCraft modes for fuel used , fuel burns per engine and miles traveled for present trip. The digital read out for tachs are more precise than the tach needles also.