Not a bad module, however, it has a few major shortcomings:
1) It doesn't keep your menu structure - it sorts by alpha A/D only - meaning NO hierarchy
2) Cannot control the width/# of characters
3) It doesn't remove duplicates

If your site structure supports it, it would probably serve you well. However, once you move to a complex structure, you will probably want to look elsewhere.

I struggled with this module at first, until I came across this in the docs:
https://support.pillwax.com/open-source/doku.php?id=joomla:header_image:general

File naming is ESSENTIAL to getting this working.

I just wanted a simple switch of a header image based on the menu nav. It was a piece of cake, once I named my images properly. TIP: Use the Debug mode and then just click on each menu element you want to have an image for, and it will even tell you what to name the image. Then copy and paste the image name in your favorite image editor when you export/save as a PNG file, and you are done.

Kudos on a job well done!

Pesto

This really is a great component. Kudos to the developers for making something much more flexible than even the top-rated commercial offerings.

Some things that are missing, however:
1) Alpha Sort/Listing module
2) Featured listings
3) The ability to put "selected" listings at the root/parent level (currently it seems to be all or none)

While these may not be important to everyone, they are found in other packages, and I do miss them with SOBI2.

Overall, I put this on the "Must Use" list for any project involving any kind of directory system. The multiple categories feature alone make this component a winner.

One thing that would be great would be a way to break this into multiple, stand-alone directories, or do multiple installs so you can have different hierarchies for each directory type.

Pete

This is a very nice component. It offers a lot of control and ease of use. The fact that it lists your sections and categories is how ALL modules should behave (no more having to jump back and forth).

However, two things that I find surprisingly excluded is Thumbnail sizing/resizing and # of columns, for horizontal usage.

This module, as far as I have seen, only works vertically. And if that's what you need, then it's great.

If you need something horizontal, then you are out of luck (unless there is a way to hack the module or CSS to make it work).

Pesto