I've been using the Tama Iron Cobra leverglide HH stand for quite a few years now (I forgot the series number, the one with the kevlar strap instead of a chain). Its still working just as fine as the day I bought it. Very smooth action, good tension intervals, and the two-turnable-leg design works just perfect (especially if you have a double pedal). Very sturdy quality as well. You can also tilt the hihat because of its construction, but personally I haven't found a real use for that.

Personally I dont see a reason to get a replacement until it breaks down or something. This is just my opinion ofcourse, I think that every brand has quality hardware these days.

I own a yamaha single braced hi hat stand, I don't have any problems with it, it's lightweight, sturdy and plays well. I do like my main hi hat stand more which is a DW 5000 because it's sturdier, smoother, and  unfortunately alot heavier. I've been meaning to check out the Axis HH stand, for me lighter means better.  

well I "know" Janus, I believe its Mapex' high-end hardware brand. I erm, toyed around with one once in a store and it seemed like a decent piece of hardware. But then again, I think most items in that pricerange are of good quality.

If you browse around on the sites of the "big brands", like pearl, yamaha, tama, mapex, sonor, etc.. they usually have quite some information about their respective hardware series. I would suggest to have a look at that, and maybe one of them has a certain feature you might be interested in. In the end I always try it out in a store, company-descriptions arent always 100% true  

Be aware that those "high-end" HH stands oftenly have features you might never use or dont have a need for..a step below those series might be just as interesting and might save you a few bucks.

some links:

www.tama.com
www.pearldrum.com
www.mapex.com
www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/CDA/Catalog/DrumsHome
www.sonor-world.com
www.dwdrums.com

Tama Iron Cobra Lever HH905 is pretty amazing for jazz

I have a Mapex 950 high hat.....It has adjustments for spring tension, foot board angle, and a cam action straight pull system. It's very smooth and built like a rock. Never slips away on me even tho I stomp on it. I tried the Janis in the store and was also amazed how well it's built. But it was the "transmission" design for double pedal. So I just stayed with the Mapex. I wouldn't hesitate on Janis....Very good from what I've heard from drummers using them. The Mapex 950 is very smooth with great feel. But traditional with their top line hardware, it's heavy to haul. Which I don't mind, because it stays right where I put it all night long. I loaned it to a jazz buddy for a night and he loved it. A couple cliques on the spring adjustment and it was right where he wanted the feel for his playing. There's a big difference between their 750 and 950 series. The 950 is well worth the extra cash, you won't need a new hat for many years.    

Tama's Iron Cobra has that tilt feature.

Do you mean the feature that allows some hihat stands to tilt the entire stand, or do you mean the little adjustment that allows you to tilt the bottom cymbal?

The former is to allow more flexible positioning. The latter is to keep the cymbals from becoming completely parallel, because when they are, sometimes the sound you get by bringing the cymbals together by stepping on the paddle becomes choked and almost inaudible, a syndrome called "air lock."

I guess it would depend on who you are.  Any answer you receive would be subjective.  One man's fad is another man's necessity.  However, I do tilt mine a little.