[MichaelBick]

The Vex ball shifters are relatively new, so I doubt many people have experience with them yet, much less throughout a full season. Two other options are the AM supershifters and the new WCP shifters. The AM supershifters have been used by many teams succesfully. The WCP shifters are new, however there is a lot of data that suggest they will be a solid choice. The gears used in their transmissions have been used by many teams(many powerhouses too). The gearbox design is based off the designs developed by 1323 and 973(not sure if 2415 and 1477 helped too). The design has been changed quite a bit for production, but I talked to Adam Heard from 973 and he said it should perform just as well.

The stock gearboxes are adequate based on what you plan to do with it. If you want to direct drive they might be a little bit slow or fast. The gear ratios are relatively easy to change, as long as you get gears that add up to the same tooth count. The gears should work fine(WCP has sold the same kind of 7075, black ano, teflon coating gears for a while), however again they haven't been tested during a season yet. They use spur gears(helical isn't really needed in FRC).