Wow. I'll be the first to say that I just got rid of my whisker biscuit and will be purchasing a QAD Ultra Rest HD.

I was slightly dissapointed in the reduction of speed but even more dissapointed in the sound factor. WB's are a bit noisey. You can put armor all on them, "no ice", you can wax the shafts, etc. It will quiet the WB down some.

With WB's, the vanes must "sift" their way through. This proves to be noisey and is where the reduction of speed comes from. With a drop-away, there is no "sifting" going on and nothing reducing the speed.