I've been using the Male Edge extender for a little over 6 weeks now.
It's got pros and cons and it's clear to me (based on visual research) that the best extender would be this one but with some modifications.
Pros: I think the Male Edge looks way easier to adjust tension than anything else: While wearing it, I could change from say 5" XFL to up to 11", without adding any pieces. It would take me less than 1 minute to change the tension/length this much. They pimp the fact that theirs has the "most" tension at "up to 2800g". So if that's true, it could be a plus. 2000g is already very comfortable for me and I have almost 20 weeks to go!
So I do believe this design is superior (keep in mind, this extender is made by the same guys that did the Jes Extender) to all the "multiple rod extenders" which seem to be 90% of them perhaps? And frankly, even though those are metal... I question how much more sturdy they may be. On the MoS forum, they push the Size Genetics Extender, which looks good and whatnot-but I've seen lots of posts about needing replacement parts or breakages-which indicate to me that extenders in general are fragile and may break.
Cons: The rods on this are made up of (this is just one side described, so really is 2x this) a "hinge piece" which is clear plastic and has the tension indicator that is visible to measure tension. It has an "inner rod" which snaps onto the clear plastic hinge piece, this inner rod is black. And it has the outer rod which snaps onto the inner rod and is movable, with 6 different settings or "slots" for the inner rod to lock into.
The straps are weak, I broke 2 (of the 4 they gave me) in the first month. When you start hitting 2000g, they don't stay in great, they tend to pop out one level and frankly the whole thing just begins to require too much maintenance. I solved this problem however with a 2 sided velcro strap and adding some of the fuzzy velcro to the extender head piece. With the right wrap, I get zero slippage at high tension and it's still very comfortable. Velcro strap is really the way to go, stretchy straps (surgical tubing or plastic straps) are just that-stretchy, so they tend to slip.
The only problem I see is that where the hinge connects to the inner rod-it is weak, the plastic is thin and this is where most of the tension on the device goes when you adjust it (because you do one side at a time, so while it's crooked-there is diagonal force onto this connection). Mine has clearly started to weaken from this. They said they are sending me a new base (which has these hinge pieces affixed to it) for free-so the customer service looks good so far.
So back to the "perfect extender" as I see it: First, the weakness issue should be addressed. The hinge and inner rod should be ONE piece, not TWO and they should be metal. With that in mind, the base ring could still be plastic and connect to this longer hinge+inner rod piece. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing about this device-it's the best as far as engineering goes IMO. I simply like that you can just move the outer rods forward to increase tension (up to 6" change or something, so from 5" to 11").
