Been working on the test component framework for our products in QTP. What I am noticing more and more often is that QTP native tools and functionality aren't terribly reliable. If you want to do something very simple, sure, but it often gets confused or loses the object with which it is to interact. That sucks
I have also started to try and bypass the object repository for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest is that it sometimes "learns" an object strictly by it's x,y coordinate. Oy. Can't build a test based on that. So, I've started interacting with the underlying XML document on the page. QTP does wisely present this to you right of the Page object, and allows you to interact with the elements in whatever fashion you want. Nice!
I am going to pursue certification in this tool, I think. It's a little expensive, but should be worthwhile. I have also been tapped to be our next TestDirector admin, so that should be interesting.