My sister had me pick up this mixer as a gift for my mother. After receiving this mixer, my mother put it to good use. I have borrowed it for some pretty demanding tasks as well. However, two gears wore out after about a year of use. For a lesser mixer, that would have been expected, but seeing the size of the gears, it was obvious that they probably should have been replaced when the mixer was reconditioned. Since this is not a popular model of KitchenAid mixer, I had a hard time finding replacement gears. But when I did find the parts needed for about $35, it was an easy repair. Since then, this mixer has been very strong and has worked very well.