Hey Paul my buddy had the SME one and I agree its junk compared to the new one! He had the same problems you described. Screws just falling out and stripped! When VBG took over they overhauled the rest and it's different, better! I really like it when its hanging in the tree and I pick it up getting ready to shoot, no worries about it falling off or making any noise whatsoever! It's funny that you say you would go with a prong rest before the SME because that's what I did. We bought new rests at the same time and he got the SME and I didn't care for it and got a prong rest instead. My shop sell these 10 to 1 compared to all other rests, so they tell me! Now we all shoot them and have had no problems! JMO!