Bergger Berspeed / Ber49 Developer?

[JWMster]

Anyone tried Berspeed / Ber49?

Reason I ask relates to a recent conversation following the recent death of my XTOL-R batch (RIP 4/09-2016 from "Here lies XTOL-R, we extolled its results until it ding danged of 'Respiratory Consumption'. It was late. It was lamented. We have been vexed and 'ex-ed' of the X.") Reported the events of XTOL's untimely demise to Jobo's US team at CatLabs's Omer, and discussed alternatives. He was rocked that I'd already "moved on" to ID-11, but suggested an alternative look at Bergger's developer products. Suggested I might first try D23 or Double D23, and he suggested there was little advantage to either relative to ID-11 / D-76. Omer again encouraged giving Berggger's products a try. Mentioned that with Freestyle the main-if-not-only US distributor, shipping for an east coast kind of a dude runs $10 while B&H offers free for orders over $60. He picked up the phone, and B&H may now begin to carry Bergger's developers in a while, but meantime....

I'm wondering whether anyone has experience with either Bergger Berspeed or Ber49 to know whether the juice is worth the squeeze? I've seen one post here, but not a lot since.

 

[JWMster]

Crickets: "chirp, chirp, chirp"

 

[MattKing]

I'm not sure why you would go to a developer with very little footprint in the market when so many people have so much good success with a JOBO and a developer like replenished X-Tol.
Or any other more readily found developer.

 

[JWMster]

'Cause the idea was suggested (unprompted) by Omer at Catlabs where I bought my Jobo.

 

[removedacct1]

I suspect nobody is offering their ideas because the Bergger developers have been difficult to obtain here in the US. I finally saw last week that Freestyle sells them now, but have yet to try either.

 

[JWMster]

Matt / Paul: I'm watching to see whether B&H will in fact begin distribution shortly. Shipping would be cheaper and more accessible. Access leads to possibilities, and if usage delivers similar to XTOL-R without the "sudden death" syndrome, then it'd be worth a try. My experience with XTOL-R's SIDs has made me leery; Omer has confirmed the rotary development issue with aeration / oxidation in a Jobo; and one of the notes on Bergger's documentations (I looked) is that it is designed to resist these issues. Maybe ALL developers are for what little I know. Anyway, I'm game to give it a try.