Had a Mobile Suites with hydraulic and feared every time we set up. Had landing gear ram failures, slides creeping out while driving down the road and continuous hydraulic leaks. Never again hydraulic. Have had mechanical gear driven slides no problem and now have had an Open Range with 3 slides with the cable system for 3 years and it has operated flawlessly. As another poster said all of the mechanism is inside the unit on top of the slide out of any dirt or weather. I would definitely have it again.