Totally agreed, they really are when set a setting that feels best to you. My only problem with them is that the setting on pavement was not what I wanted off-road and really, it's cool that you change that setting and that got old for me. Going from one to another and for as often as I'm on the trail, it became a pain. But, not everyone is out on the trail as often as me and so for them, it may not be a problem.
Just to be fair, are both Jeeps 4-doors or 2-doors and are both loaded up the same? If your friend is loaded up more, he's most likely riding on the firm side of the dual rate coils. Just want to make sure we're comparing true apples to apples here as there are a lot more factors than just the two of you running the same lift. Just sayin...
IMHO, the 9000's can be every bit as "hardcore" so long as you have them dialed in for it. The 7000's are in my opinion, nicer than Bilsteins and shocks that will give an overall nice ride. Maybe not a comfortable as you can set a 9000 but, plenty good enough across the spectrum. Just trying to put things into perspective. :yup: