I'd have more faith in using plastic sprockets if it were not for so many earlier reports of sprocket failures coupled with seeing them crack first hand w/ turbo fins - just last week.
Now, Hobie has been known to "quietly improve the product with little to no fanfare". Case in point being 2 different versions of the hollow crank arms that come with pre-installed pedals. The later being superior to the earlier.
Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly applaud Hobie for making improvements.
So, is all this talk about plastic sprockets now being able to work correctly, even with turbos, because of users suddenly figuring out how to install turbo fins? Or, has Hobie made some type of material change in the sprockets?
I have seen a few reports of users having to replace plastic sprockets multiple times until they got a set that seemed to hold up. Not even counting the sprocket versions with incorrect setscrew location.
The point I'm driving at involves trying to figure out what has changed. And, if Hobie makes these improvements - why not come out and say so?
I agree with Roadrunner that, on paper at least, the plastic sprockets should be superior in many ways. The amount of contrary info about the durability of plastic sprockets fuels the theory of multiple versions and materials.
To illustrate a huge variance in materials. (Night & Day)
4 years ago I had all 4 spocket guards fail/wear out on 2 new drives that had only been used a few times (the sprocket guard on the right). Hobie sent me 8 new sprocket guards (on left) that have been on my drives ever since and they have no visable wear after hundreds of uses.
At the time Hobie chalked it up to a "bad batch" of plastic.
I agreed cause the worn sprocket guard almost looked like it was dissolving.
Yakaholic