"Personally, I never had a car that did not exceed that rating by at least 10%. Highway or city."
That must be a lonely club, you being the only member and all. ;-) (I jest - all in good fun). You must not drive like people around here.
Seriously, it's not because I don't know any better that I like the AIR-X - it's quite the opposite. You'll never hear me say something like, "If I can do it anyone can." That's not at all what I'm implying through my comments about the AIR-X. I have always had success with mechanical/electronic systems that befuddle others, so YMMV.
Even so, the bad rap against the AIR has a lot of urban legend to it. Many people who have joined the chorus have never even seen one up close. It is also a bit political, if you ask me. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to sense there is something less than pure objectivity behind the "reviews."
I've critiqued them all - Gipe's, the NREL and Detronics. Gipe and the NREL have an axe to grind. Detornics just isn't using best practices, yet I think it is a genuine test. In general there seems to me a lot more social science than hard science in these reviews.
As far as personal experiences of individual owners, well if someone can't get it to work, they can't get it to work -- I can't argue with that. Nonetheless, my AIR-X works.
Wire size has everything to do with this machine, by the way. High impedance in the wire will cause it to brake in the same way as high RPM. When the unit senses a charged battery it will brake. High impedance causes a false charged reading. As I stated previously SWWP's own wire size recommendations are unrealistic. 5% and higher loss is too much. 2% percent or less and you're on your way to having a successful AIR-X deployment.
Probably two of the most common mistakes with the AIR-X are using too thin a wire for long runs and not waiting for the 60-100 hour break-in period for the ball bearings before passing judgment. But there are lots of other limitations with small wind in general that people just don't grasp intuitively.
Of course I would like to have something else -- something bigger and a nice house in the country to go with it. :-)