I started with v2, so I can't comment on the benefits of v1. There are however a large number of people that still prefer it due to some functionality being removed and replaced with newer techniques. This angered a number of long time pronto configurators as they relied on some of these techniques to quickly configure and deploy pronto programs. Hence they stayed with V1 due to the large amount of time that would have been required to convert their toolkits to the new version.

My recommendation: If you haven't built anything using v1, then don't bother with it. You're simply delaying the pain and suffering pre-existing v1 users are trying to avoid by not upgrading. Then there is always the possibility that Philips may decide to 'sundown' the v1 product. Sundown being 'buried', 'dead' and 'no longer supported'.