Mike,
The real advantage of electroless nickle is that it is not porous, like chrome, and therefore really provides protection against corrosion. In the off shore industry they require electroless nickle for plating of steel hydraulic manifolds that are exposed to sea water, it's that or stainless steel and machining a 2ft x 3ft blocks into a 5000 psi manifold is almost impossible with stainless and just the block is expensive if you can find one.
Rex