Model/Year: 2010

Pros: -They work well
-Cheap
-Hold up over time

Cons: -Cheesy construction (BUT I haven't had any breakage)

Recommendation: -Anybody who needs a cheap shifting solution can appreciate these. They work well, aren't expensive, and hold up over time.

Pros: price, performance

Cons: plastic

Recommendation: Good entry level and work well, but they wear out or break due to plastic construction

Pros: Clean crisp shifting considering the fact that they are plastic.
Great performance for the price.

Cons: Plastic shifters.
Two thumb levers (as opposed to Shimano's finger/thumb shifting)

Recommendation: These shifters work great for the price but I only have two concerns; well one concern and one gripe....
First of all they are plastic and plastic tends to weaken especially with the amount of shifting one would do on any typical trail. Basically they will eventually brake. Now my only gripe is the dual thumb shifting. Although I have gotten used to shifting my X5 shifters, they are not as efficient as the Shimano Deore XT( ) thumb/finger shifters as this set up allows you to keep your finger and thumb in position for faster shifting whereas you have to move your thumb up and down using the X5's. This may be a personal opinion but I think Shimano nailed it with their shifter set up.
These shifters came with my bike and overall they have not let me down and have worked flawlessly. I will probably keep them until one of them brakes and although I am a fan of Srams products (mainly because they are 100% U.S. made), I will probably upgrade to Shimano XTR's....

Model/Year: 2011

Pros: they came stock on my am bike and it doesnt cop the abuse my dh gets

Cons: plastic but ill deal with that problem when it happens

Recommendation: nice performance so far.

Pros: Performance for the price.

Cons: ALL plastic external parts.

Recommendation: Great shifters for the price. I was very iffy at first when these came stock on my bike due to the face that even the shift paddles are plastic, but I have had no problems yet.

Pros: Price, performance

Cons: More cheaply made than some of the nicer shifters, but that comes with the price tag.

Recommendation: Honestly, these X.5 shifters perform just as well as the X.7 and X.9. You can feel that they are more cheaply constructed however, which might lead to problems sooner down the road.

Pros: Price and performance

Cons: None

Recommendation: Really, these shifters provide as good of performance as the higher-end SRAM shifters in a little cheaper package. I'd be totally fine with running these on any of my bikes.