I'm not on the market for a furnace nor expect to be anytime soon so this
is just out of curiousity based on reading posts here.

Our furnace has spark-ignited pilot. Seems to me that after the demise of
the gas-wasting standing pilot that would be the way to go. I see a lot of
posts where the culprit in someone's problem may be a hot surface ignitor
and also how delicate these are in handling. Is that technology as much
less reliable as the posts here would make it seem? Should I make a mental
note in the back of my mind to avoid them if I was ever buying a new
furnace?

Also, just for clarity, does a hot surface ignitor still light a pilot
before main gas? I once saw a furnace sitting for sale at a big box store
and looking it over for curiousity I noticed that it seemed like it had no
pilot...at least I didn't see anything that looked like one. I don't know
what kind of ignition it had. (I don't recall the brand.) Isn't it safer
to ignite a pilot, wait a moment for the flame to be proved, and then kick
on the burner?