Most of the fresh products hype was the fact that your hanger all of a sudden became indestructible. At present there is no sprung tensioner which can offer protection for your hanger, so although most people prefer the design and practicality of a sprung tensioner/mech, they are just not as suited to trials as something which is pretty indestructible. Then of course with the non sprung tensioners, there is always the problem of keeping tension, and in some cases (me: ) getting tension in the first place. I had a fresh tensioner, and no matter what gear ratio I tryed, it just would not tension my chain. So I'm back to a good old mech now, but have also aquired a near broken hanger So i would say non sprung are better for trials, but are less versatile. Then sprung tensioners are technically better, but not really suited to the abuse they get put through. Ian