The only negatives I read about for the SEI drives is the quality of paint on them.

Kinda true, I have their lower on my 250 merc outboard, which is essentially an alpha lower, and the paint holds up fine until ya drag the skeg thru the sand, the original finish is not as nice as a Merc, but for a 3rd. of the price with 3 times the warranty I can deal with that, I run my boat hard, 24 pantera with a single 250, so it is heavy for the single, and the motor and drive work to get it on plane(runs nice after that), had the lower a year now with no problems(of course I wasnt boating for 7 months while I was replacing the transom)

+1

My friend put an SEI drive on his Wellcraft Eclipse. It worked perfectly, and lasted longer than his old stock Alpha. The price is very reasonable, and they stand behind their warranty as well. Seems like a good company to me.