I never spent a whole lot of time clocking any of my off road stuff. I just always gear things to be fast enough these days. When I went to the 8XL, the whole purpose was to go easier on everything. I left the gearing the same as I was running with the 7XL, which was 14/46. As a result, amp draw went down, so the batts ran cooler; motor temps went down, in the sense that I could run longer before things got too hot, and the esc ran cooler. The difference in speed was noticeable, but not drastic. Besides, when I want to go faster, I just gear up a couple of teeth. I didn't notice an increase in torque. Not that there wasn't a difference, I just didn't notice it.

Overall, I'm happier with the 8XL, than I was with the 7XL. I've just recently started running 5S lipo, so I'm going to get a 9XL, which should get me the performance of the 7XL on 4S, but with less heat and more runtime.