You can lightly buff the frets with 000 (I've tested) or 0000 (I've not tested) steel wool. I've done the 000 steel wool on guitar frets a few years...
Well, my Snark (and past Snark) never had any excessive battery usage issues.
As for accuracy, I agree with you. I think they are not very accurate;...
Let's see, I guess Kanile'a and Kamaka are the main competition.
Let's also assume that using Gotoh UPTs add $100 cost to the KoAlohas to allow them...