greg im sure they do work well, they just wont stand our weather, nor will most other antennas, we have lost/snapped 2 vector 4000's in the last couple of days and one sigma4 snapped its pole but survived unscathed, maybe more went west early today with the steady 70+mph breeze and lashing rain,
i have it from an antenna guru that for a meaningfull test you should put the current maxima's at the same height when comparing antennas, under those conditions the astroplane will not do well and the 5/8 groundplane will,
when height and surroundings are your restrictions current maxima is very important and can be used to your benefit, i hope