[Adam Freeman]

We just received out VEX pro 2-stage gearboxes yesterday.

(1) - The weight of these gearboxes, at least from a subjective standpoint, is unbelievable. The aluminum gears and plastic housing are a significant weight reduction over the standard 2-speed gearboxes of the past.

(2) - The process of assembling them was really easy to follow. We typically have 1 or 2 students working on assembling and documenting how a 2-stage gearbox goes together. They usually take about an hour or so to complete the task. Yesterday, the students were done (with no questions) in about 15minutes. The directions were easy to follow and the design is simple and easy to see how to put it together.

(3) - We haven't run them yet....but the quality of the gears and "smoothness" when spinning by them by hand seems to be great.

(4) - The boxes are really cool looking. Probably not a major point...but you can tell these guys have really worked to get all the finer points of their product right.

We are "all-in" for 2 stage ball shifters this year on our robot. Now we just need to decide if we shift them with pneumatics or motors.

Keep up the GREAT work guys!