I posted this over on the Duet3d forums and it was suggested to post over here as well.
I just finished upgrading my original V1 Mini with an aerostruder and a Duet maestro 32-bit mainboard. Thanks to the open source documentation and incredibly well labelled cables, it only took two days to have it running, and only one day of software tweaking to get it printing.
The upgrade is well worth it. Overall everything is smoother, quieter, and more seamless. If you’re handy with a soldering iron, I highly recommend it, and am happy to send advice.