It's been working great, hands down the best servo I've ever had anything to do with. No slop as far as I can tell, from what the team drivers for futaba, in the rock crawling segment anyway, have said is that the brushless motor seems to have a bit more 'give' than a normal brushed/coreless motor and that seems to help the gear life. Unless you like crashing into things I wouldn't worry about the gears too much, I've had it wedged between rocks so hard it stalls and it's still keeps going. Only thing is it does get a little warm after you wedge it a couple times. No idea on the material strength of the gears compared to hitec, but IMO it's a far superior servo to anything hitec has to offer. Just feels smoother, quicker and more powerful, compared to 7950s and 7980s.

Kieren