If Lake Erie is your primary lake get a cig!!!

Thanks all for the input. This should help in my decision making.

If you are boating in rough conditions that will have the boat in and out of the water constantly, buy something that doesn't have bravo or bravo XR drives. Both boats will handle the water out there with a driver that can set the attitude of the vessel. The drive will always be the weak point.

what's the next best drive above the Bravo's?

Nxt, speedmaster 3,4,5,6 , imco. Pretty much everything

1st: ASD 7m, dry ssm6
2nd: wet ssm6
3rd: imco SCX's
4th: SSM 5
5th: SSM 3, 4
Don't know where an nxt falls, still way above a bravo though.

I still wouldn't put an imco drive (bravo based) over a ssm 5, or even a ssm 3A for rough water, don't be silly.

1st - ASD8 hands down
2nd - ASD7 SSM6
3rd - SSM5- 3A, NXT
4th - SSM early gen
5th - IMCO, BMAX
6th - Bravo XR
7th - TRS
8th - Bravo

Picked the XR based driver over TRS because of parts, not strength

I suspect and SCX can handle more power than some early SSMs. I could be wrong. The bmax is probably equivalent to an SC? SCX over bmax for sure I'd think.

Maybe so, I don't know a ton about the SCX drives. However, I have seen some old big heavy boats running transmissions and SSM drives in big water with few problems. Would you confidently do the same with the bravo based SCX cone clutch drive?

lots of choices I see...