dawgdude;412794 wrote: Havent compared them side by side but have seen both running and would pick the MRC 100% hands down. The MRC has a smaller footprint (5.5" x 4.5") so takes up less real estate and is an inch shorter (22") than the Extreme 160. The Extreme is 8"x10" so its substantially larger. I dont know much about the pumps MRC uses but can tell you it was pulling a ridiculous amount of air. Additionally the MRC pump pulls 18 watts and the Octo pulls "less than 30 watts". Couple all of those with the fact that MRC comes with a gate valve already installed AND you can take it in and have it fixed the same day if by some fluke something goes wrong..........My advice is to go MRC. Don't foret too that once you add in that ARC discount they are basically the same price and you would have to buy and install a gate valve on the Octo if you wanted it.