The big problem with hall-effect or optical ignitions like the Allison/Crane or the Pertronix is this: when they fail, you can't diagnose the problem at the side of the road. (Unless you carry a handheld oscilloscope in the car!)
Whereas with points, it's pretty easy to get out a flashlight and the toolkit screwdriver and reset the gap or change the points set entirely, in the dark, in freezing rain, at the side of a highway with semi tractors blowing by at 80 mph, 300 miles from New York City. . . not that I've done that or anything. . .
Anyway. . . how to tell the "Health" of various systems:
1) CDI Box-- do you hear a "whine" when the unit is powered up? That's the oscillator inside generating an AC which steps up +12V to +460V to charge the cap-- it makes the coil windings vibrate hence the whine. . . are all the connections clean? That's decent roadside troubleshooting.
2) Plug wires-- check with ohm meter for continuity and resistance.
3) Points-- check gap, dwell (dwell's not that important with CDI)-- the points current is only 420mA so points wear is negligible over tens of thousands of miles
4) Rotor, cap visual inspection, check resistance
5) Distributor- check advance with dial back timing light, create map of advance curve and compare to factory specs . . . over time. Manually rotate rotor to verify that centrifugal advance working/not seized
6) every connection in the electrical system must be checked to be free of corrosion-- including the grounds.