I ran my Bmax's for about 120 ocean hours before I had my first catastrophic failure @ 830 hp. Blew apart the upper and it wasn't salvagable. Somehow a gear lost a tooth and the rest was history. I bought a new upper over the winter, fingers crossed going forward..

Overall I'm happy with the experience compared to the IMCO Extreme SC's I had which only lasted 20 hrs @ 720 hp.

Dean does his best to take care of things but he needs to pay closer attention to details.

I have a bmax poker run drive with around 950hp on it. NEVER even had so much as an inkling of a problem. I must say, these things are absolute tanks. I wonder if anyone has used the new crescent lower units thax bmax sells in shorties??

I have them and so does Strip Poker 388.

Has anyone tried the X Power drive as a bolt on alternative? http://www.xpowerdrive.com/
I hear they are in the 25-30k range, but the bonus is that the only thing they share with a bravo is the gimbal ring....

Also, what about the IMCO SCX? That is another drive that has larger gears.....
http://imcomarine.com/ca_store/index...=index&cPath=4

When my XRs bite the dust, i will be looking at one of those two most likely.....

Im happy with the Bmax's