I'm not going to get too deeply involved in which is "best,"but I do want to offer a bit of perspective based on personal experience.
Electronic fuel injection, ignition, etc. are certainly the wave of the future, both in cars and boats. In cars, that future is pretty much already here. All of that "progress" is not without significant downsides, however.
First of all, there are different kinds of fuel injection. The simplist, throttle-body injection, just dumps the gasoline into the center of the manifold like some carbs, and lets the intake runners carry it to each cylinder. A little more precise than most carbs, but similar in many respects. Not necessarily any performance advantage over a well set up carb(s).
Direct port injection is more precise. It carries the fuel directly to each intake port, eliminating some of the inconsistencies of carbs and throttle-body injections. Performance and economy are usually slightly better than most carb setups, but not necessarily by a noticeable amount.
With the exception of some of the early Hillborn and other similar fuel injection systems, neither performance nor economy were the main motivators for fuel injection. Emissions control was the driving force. An electronic chip could control fuel mixtures and ignition profiles for the lowest possible emissions, sometimes at the expense of both performance and economy. High performance aftermarket chips and custom "maps" for CPU's are now big business.
Most of us are concerned about the environment, and regard emissions control as a good thing. Electronic F.I. and ignition are a big help in that regard.
As in most things, there is no free lunch here, though. Carburetors, distributors and magnetos are no longer cutting-edge, but for those of us who take our boats in harm's way(offshore)they have a distinct advantage.
A carb will get out of tune over a period of time like any mechanical device. Most of them are simple enough for even the mechanically challenged to repair. Usually carb problems are a gradual thing, giving significant notice before ceasing to function. Same with mechanical ignition.
If you get some bad fuel and water gets past your filter/separator, it's a simple matter to drain the float bowls and clean out the jets on a carb compared to dealing with the same problem on fuel injection. That is doubly true when the carb is a simple design as on an outboard.
Likewise, on the older distributors, if the wear block controlling the points wore down, or the condensor went out, no problem. You could reset the point gap using a matchbook cover if necessary, and a condensor was something that everybody carried, and replaceable in minutes. User-friendly.
With very few exceptions, if your electronics go out, on either your fuel injection or ignition, you are usually dead in the water. (unless you have twins, and water problems in the fuel could knock out both.)
A few years ago I was putting a large boat in the water at a launching ramp in the Delta. I had a new Dodge Power Wagon for a tow vehicle. After launching the boat, I tried to re-start the truck to get it off the ramp and park it. It would not start. The electronic ignition had picked that time to go out. No warning at all. It was at dusk, several miles from the nearest city, I was alone, and the tide was coming in. :shock:
That malfunction almost cost me my life a couple of hours later, but that's another story.
A corollary to Murphy's Law states that any mechanical malfunction will always occur at the worst possible time. This was positive proof.
Running offshore, I would much rather have some indication of a problem before being put out of business. Carbs give you a better chance of that than F. I.
I'm not holding out against progress. If my chosen motor has fuel injection, that's fine. In time, that will be the only choice.
I won't necessarily regard it as an improvement, though. In some ways yes, in others, no.
Don
:cocktail 