Saint m810 Shifter and Derailleur / Mech

Everyone knows saint is Shimano's top of the range gravity mech and shifter, and this doesn't disappoint. Faultless, easy shifting and low maintenance - exactly what I look for in a shifter / mech combo. My Saint kit hasn't had an easy life. Rock gardens, sand, mud, loose sticks on the trail and puddles have given this mech their best shot at killing it, and it just hasn't worked. Three years on, and the shifter has worked perfectly. The mech has needed a new inner half of the cage, but this was from a stick that would have shredded anything. Despite the stick (which incidentally, ripped the spokes out of the rear wheel as well), the derailleur has needed nothing else. Even more impressive is that I rode it home fine - this mech will take a complete beating and you'll still finish the race. After the recent incident I stripped it down for a check, and it was immaculate. The jockey wheels ran smoothly, the spring was fine, all the bolts were rust free and had retained the threads. I cannot fault this at all. I know that Sram offers the X0, a mech I have not tried personally but have been assured is equally good. Now the m820 range is out, the m810 kit is going cheap. I'd urge anyone to buy it, you'll never have to do crummy maintenance jobs or time consuming gear adjustments again. Set it up, and don't touch it until its time for new jockey wheels (which is over three years in my case!). Oh, and the saint logo and black / gold / silver colour scheme doesn't detract from the bikes looks.