Rob,
I would go with the concensus - reflected power would be nice but not 
at all essential.  All of your efforts are appreciated.
Pat, K9JAUAt 02:53 AM 12/28/2013, you wrote:
>Hi Guys
>
>    As some of you know, I build the HamPod which is fundamentally  a box
>with a 16 button keypad and provides an accessible  speech interface to
>various pieces of radio gear. One project that has been continuously
>pushed aside by requests for additional HamPod support has been to build
>a talking SWR/Watt meter. The HamPod currently has support for the
>Elecraft W2 and the Array Solutions Power Master 2 meters but those are
>primarily options for those who already own one of those meters or a
>HamPod. For this new meter, I want to build a stand alone device much
>like the out of production LDG TW-1 but with better accuracy and using
>separate couplers. I will also provide an audio tome tuning function.
>There are a couple optional paths to pursue here.  The first is to
>design and build a meter from scratch which will require the most time.
>Second is to leverage a meter already in production that I can make
>accessible. This is my preferred choice as it will be much quicker to
>develop but of course will in crease the cost to some extent.
>    I've started exploring development with an existing meter and have a
>question I'd like to pose to the group for your feedback. I'd like to
>know if you require the need to know reflected power. As it is now with
>this current meter, I can provide peak forward power, average forward
>power, and SWR. You can determine reflected power given forward power
>and SWR but the question is, just how important is it for you to be able
>to directly read reflected power? Do you currently make use of this
>reading with your current meter? I would like to know the consensus
>before I invest more time into that aspect at this point.
>
>Thanks,
>Rob  K6DQ