That is very much NOT the case in the test noted, see my previous post. This is evident in the detailed report PDF. Awful. Not only did they not duplicate test conditions such as consistent lubricant, they mixed new hubs with old worn hubs (not to compare new versus old, but for single samples to represent a given hub), just used whatever they happened to have on hand. One 7 speed IGH only had 2 working gears, they used it anyway, never mind that non-functioning gears could add tremendous friction for a variety of reasons.

My personal perception is that the test was a boondoggle put on by "Browning Research" to tout their two products, without any investment in new parts of competing hubs for comparison, either to not spend the money, or no incentive to have the competitors perform better, or both. Truth be told, just like all other external gearing systems, the Browning external system should have better efficiency than an IGH. But you cannot compare efficiencies between IGHs from that study, as they had too many variables on the IGH test samples.