of course they arnt needed... but.. some of them are very usefull as seperate flow rates based on times.. such as stronger current at night vs day, indicator of how dirty it is... can be very usefull. This is just technology kicking into our hobby.. making stuff a bit easier.. but like everyting else... things can go wrong... I think it's really neat tho.
Where was the stereotypical blonde german boy in that video! Eheim, u make good filters, un-german like adverts. (i'm 1/4 german so i can say these things )